Google CEO introduces the Simplicity Sprint to improve staff productivity

Google announced the “Simplicity Sprint” as a new initiative to bolster staff productivity.

Let’s assume you work for a big tech conglomerate, and it’s time for your mid-year performance evaluation. In the meeting, your boss looks over the report and sums up by saying, “the entire workforce is a bit distracted and they need to become more productive.” You look over the report yourself and figure the company isn't doing too bad on the numbers. How do you think this meeting will make you feel; doing a good job or feeling insecure about your job? You don’t think so right?

That’s exactly the state of affairs with everyone working at Google. During an all-hands meeting, Google’s CEO Sunday Pichai announce the need to introduce a new initiative to bolster staff productivity. He further discussed that Google is facing real concerns about their headcount not matching the company’s productivity. They need to create a culture that is more mission-focused, more focused on our products, more customer focused. We should think about how we can minimize distractions and really raise the bar on both product excellence and productivity.

A recent post by CNN showed that Google’s net income fell short by 13 percent due to “pullbacks in spend by some advertisers” and “lower engagement levels.” Pichai is ready to cut all the corners by introducing “Simplicity Sprint” initiative to reach Google’s 170,000+ full-time employees directly for their opinions and ideas about productivity and efficiency.

“Be More Mission-foucused, Product-focused,” Picha Pressed Google Staff.

The Simplicity Sprint initiative will crowdsource ideas from employees for agile product development. Google’s 170,00+ employees will have to answer questions via an internal survey, and it extends through August 15. It also leaves a window for management to reach out for follow-up questions.

The survey will present employees with questions such as:

1. How do we improve our time and resource management

2. Where should we cut corners, speed bumps to achieve better nd faster results.

3. How can everyone work with greater clarity and efficiency to serve our customers.

Pichai received questions about potential layoffs, which he deflected to Google’s chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi. Fiona revealed that there was no plan to lay off anyone at the moment, but they did not rule it out.

She further added “We’re asking teams to be more focused and efficient and we’re working out what that means as a company as well. Even though we can’t be sure of the economy in the future, we’re not currently looking to reduce Google’s overall workforce.”

The results of this new initiative should be evident in the coming months.