HR News: Google Recruiters Laid Off, Salesforce Hiring Spree, Goldman Sachs Fires Executives, Another CEO Resignation, and More

This is a weekly roundup of the latest in HR News.

Hiring, firing, layoffs, and attrition take center stage in this week's HR news. Google announced layoffs of its recruiting staff, which is remarkable because of the premium the company has always placed on people and the management of them. Salesforce, which previously laid off many people, is going on a hiring spree. In a bold move to address compliance and violations, Goldman Sachs fired top executives for messaging. Another CEO leaving his post, which makes these resignations seem like an epidemic, and an updated on the United Auto Workers union round out the headlines. 

For details, read on: 

Google Lays Off Recruiters

Alphabet, which owns Google, has been cost cutting for a while now, and this week it announced hundreds of layoffs in its recruiting department. The company said in statements that this was a matter of efficiency because it has reduced hiring budgets for the next few quarters, which means recruiters have much less to do. 

WATCH: Conducting Layoffs with Empathy and Employment Law Know-How

“We unfortunately need to make a significant reduction to the size of the recruiting organization,” Brian Ong, Google’s recruiting vice president, told employees in a Wednesday video meeting, a recording of which was obtained by CNBC.

This announcement comes after the January reveal that Google would cut 12,000 jobs or 6% of the full-time workforce. 

After Layoffs, Salesforce Is Hiring Again

Like many tech companies, Salesforce, a cloud-based software firm, conducted a large round of layoffs that reduced the workforce by 10% at the start of 2023, according to Reuters. However, the company's CEO Marc Benioff told Bloomberg that the company would now be hiring 3,300 people among sales, engineering, and those working on the data cloud product. 

This hiring spree points to the fact that tech companies claiming they were bloated might just have hired for the wrong positions during the height of the pandemic. Now, they have corrected themselves and find the need to hire for different roles to address changing market needs. 

Goldman Sachs Fires Executives

Reuters reported earlier in the week that Goldman Sachs fired executives in its transaction banking department for violating the company's communication policy. In addition, the publication referenced the departure of Hari Moorthy, the head of transaction banking.

What happened? Employees must communicate about firm-related business only through company-approved communication channels. This is a question of compliance because the federal government requires firms to keep track of business-related communications among employees. Recently, Goldman Sachs was among those fined for failing to track employee's talk via channels like text messages and What's App. 

This is merely another example of organizations having to take action as a result of misuse of technology. It also can be placed in those conversations about compliance, speech, and communications. To learn more about what HR is facing when it comes to these relatively new dilemmas, check out the HR Book Club review of They Did What?  

WATCH: Subscribe to HR Exchange Network's YouTube Channel for Book Reviews, Interviews, and More

CEOs Resigning in Droves

LinkedIn recently shared the news that CS Disco CEO Kiwi Camara, whose $110 million compensation package that was reliant on stock options and made headlines, resigned from heading the company. LinkedIn and other publications cited these recent statistics: 

• More than 1,000 CEOs have resigned in 2023, a 33% increase from last year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
• CEOs currently hold the job for between five and seven years on average, down from 12, according to an analysis by Ferguson Partners.

Some who wrote posts about the LinkedIn news brief on this subject suggested that today's leaders are unprepared for the post-pandemic workplace. It could be why HR Exchange Network respondents to the 2022 State of HR survey said leadership development was a top priority. 

United Auto Workers Goes on Strike

HREN shared news of the possible strike last week, and now there's an update. Nearly 13,000 workers are on strike because General Motors, Ford Motor, and Stellantis failed to negotiate a feasible contract with the United Auto Workers labor union. The disagreements are about pay raises, benefits, and cost-of-living adjustments, according to LinkedIn. The expectation is that workers will commit to a series of walk outs without notice. 

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