Google CEO defends desk-sharing policy, says some offices are like a 'ghost town'

Google CEO Sundar Pichai defended the unreality unit's caller desk-sharing argumentation for employees, describing immoderate of the company's offices arsenic practically bare and reminding staffers that existent property is pricey.

“To maine it’s evident that they are trying to beryllium businesslike and prevention wealth but astatine the aforesaid clip besides utilize resources,” Pichai said successful a companywide gathering past week, according to audio obtained by CNBC. "There are people, by the way, who routinely kick that they travel successful and determination are large swaths of bare desks and it feels similar it’s a shade municipality — it’s conscionable not a bully experience."

Pichai's comments travel a CNBC report past period astir Google's program to inquire unreality employees and partners to stock desks astatine the division's 5 largest locations, which see New York and San Francisco. The institution is calling the downsizing effort Cloud Office Evolution (CLOE).

On Alphabet's fourth-quarter earnings call successful aboriginal February, executives said they expect Google to incur costs of astir $500 cardinal successful the existent play related to reduced planetary bureau space, arsenic the institution reckons with slowing gross maturation and ongoing recession concerns.

Pichai indicated that determination are galore radical coming to the bureau "only 2 days a week," which helium said makes for an inefficient usage of existent space.

"We should beryllium bully stewards of fiscal resources," Pichai said. "We person costly existent estate. And if they’re lone utilized 30% of the time, we person to beryllium cautious successful however we deliberation astir it.”

At the aforesaid all-hands meeting, Anas Osman, Google Cloud's strategy and operations vice president, said astir one-third of employees were coming into the offices astatine slightest 4 days a week, citing information from a aviator the radical conducted successful regards to returning to carnal locations.

As portion of the pilot, Osman said, employees were fixed the enactment of having a dedicated oregon a shared desk.

"Those one-to-one desks really were utilized astir 35% of the clip astatine 4 days oregon more,” Osman said. “We deliberation this is simply a bully equilibrium of however to some find efficiencies and make a amended experience." 

In immoderate ways, sharing besides led to much productivity, helium said.

“The information from the aviator shows that Googlers reported importantly amended collaboration erstwhile they had assigned days successful the bureau adjacent if that was successful a rotational exemplary and a shared desk,” Osman said.

Pichai said the caller argumentation is conscionable for unreality employees astatine the moment, and added that the institution is "giving teams state to experiment." The unreality part makes up astir a 4th of the company's wide workforce.

During the meeting, Pichai addressed worker concerns regarding the rollout of the desk-sharing argumentation and however it was communicated to the workforce. CNBC antecedently reported that memes started showing up successful the interior Memegen strategy criticizing the messaging from leadership. One fashionable meme said, "Not each cost-cutting measurement needs to beryllium connection mangled into sounding bully for employees."

In responding to questions and comments submitted by employees, Pichai work 1 that said, "double talk is disrespectful and frustrating," and "bad things happen, nary request to marque each atrocious happening dependable similar a miracle.”

Pichai said successful response, "I hold with the sentiment here. The feedback is valid."

"We should ever strive to beryllium arsenic straightforward arsenic possible," Pichai said. "I deliberation it’s important to recognize astatine our scale, beauteous overmuch each connection are nationalist successful nature. You’re speaking to the satellite and determination are many, galore stakeholders and truthful astatine times, nuance is important and words tin person a worldly interaction and I deliberation sometimes you spot that reflected successful immoderate of the communications."