Google to Limit Hiring: How Many Employees Does Google Currently Have?

Alphabet Inc. is facing slowing revenue growth due to declining advertising revenue amid global economic uncertainty. The parent company of Google will therefore limit its employee recruitment in the fourth quarter of this year and in 2023.

The company has added more than 36,000 new employees in the past 12 months. As of Q3 2022, the number of Alphabet Inc. employees reached 186,779.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the recruitment restrictions are being implemented because the company will focus more on operational cost growth. "Our actions to slow the pace of hiring will become clearer in 2023," Pichai said, as quoted by CNBC International on Tuesday (October 25).

Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said that employee additions will slow in the upcoming fourth quarter. "The addition of employees will be less than half the number added in the third quarter of this year," Porat said.

In addition to slowing hiring, Alphabet has reportedly reduced benefits such as employee travel and off-site teams, according to a Business Insider report.

However, the large number of employees at Alphabet Inc. may not be the only burden on the company. Since the beginning of the year, Alphabet has reported losses of almost US$4.5 billion from Other Bets, the company's venture capital and private equity division that manages early-stage funding projects.