New Delhi: In a major cost-cutting move, tech giant Google has slashed its management positions by 10%, CEO Sundar Pichai announced during a company-wide meeting. Pichai, at the all-hands meeting on Wednesday, December 18, outlined the significant reduction across manager, director, and vice president roles, according to insider sources cited by Business Insider.

While some roles have been downgraded to individual contributor positions, some positions have been terminated entirely, a spokesperson for Google confirmed. The restructuring has been underway for the past two years, signalling a broader shift toward efficiency at the tech giant.

Google’s decision mirrors Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s recent push to cut “pre-meetings for pre-meetings” and boost individual contributors by 15% by early 2025. Both companies are targeting layers of middle management, which they argue hinder decision-making and stifle innovation.

The shake-up comes amid intensifying pressure on Google from AI rivals like OpenAI, whose advancements are posing a direct challenge to Google’s dominance in the search industry.

In other news, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has reportedly issued a sharply-worded email to employees emphasizing office attendance. In the stern company-wide communication, Aggarwal criticized employees for a lack of discipline and urged them to prioritize their workplace responsibilities. The email, which quickly went viral on social media, has ignited widespread online debate.

This development follows reports of Ola laying off 500 employees as part of its efforts to streamline operations and boost profitability. The company has been actively working to minimize redundancies and optimize its workforce for greater efficiency.

During a recent post-earnings call, Aggarwal noted a quarter-on-quarter reduction in the company’s operating expenses.