Google has eliminated 35 per cent of its managerial roles overseeing small teams in what is being described as one of the company’s biggest leadership shakeups in recent years. The move is part of CEO Sundar Pichai’s ongoing push to reduce bureaucracy and speed up decision-making, even as the tech giant doubles down on artificial intelligence investments.
At a recent all-hands meeting, Brian Welle, Google’s vice president of people analytics and performance, told employees that the company now has “35 per cent fewer managers with fewer direct reports” than the same time last year. Managers who were responsible for fewer than three people have largely been shifted back into individual contributor roles.
The restructuring is designed not simply to cut jobs but to streamline internal processes. “We want leadership roles to remain a smaller proportion of the workforce, so we can operate faster without unnecessary layers of approval,” Welle explained.
This leadership reshuffle follows repeated layoffs and restructuring across Alphabet since 2023, when Google announced its largest-ever job cut of 12,000 employees. Since then, downsizing has affected Google Cloud, Platforms and Devices (including Android, Pixel, and Chrome), and the Global Business Unit. In 2025 alone, hundreds of employees have been let go across divisions as the company urged teams to “do more with less.”
To soften the impact, Google also rolled out Voluntary Exit Programmes (VEPs) across product areas like search, marketing, hardware, and people operations. Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconi revealed that 3–5 per cent of staff in those groups accepted buyouts, often citing personal time, family commitments, or career breaks.
Sundar Pichai defended the restructuring, saying: We need to be more efficient as we scale up so we don’t solve everything with headcount. Our structure must support innovation without unnecessary management. With mounting AI investments and rising competition, analysts say Google’s workforce reshuffle reflects the tech industry’s broader trend of tightening resources while chasing next-generation breakthroughs.
