'Real concerns' | Google's demand for more productivity might actually damage output

Google chief Sundar Pichai has told staff to be more productive amid ongoing growth problems within the tech sector, new reports suggest.

As first reported by CNBC, Pichai told the firm’s 170,000 employees that he would love to get their help for how this culture can be changed, as well as ideas for product development.

“There are real concerns that our productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the head count we have,” Pichai is said to have told workers in a quarterly update. He went on to ask employees to help “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.”

Google, owned by Alphabet, has also launched an initiative called “Simplicity Sprint” — an internal survey project designed to improve efficiency and employee focus during an uncertain economic environment.