Google & Meta | Everything HR needs to know about hiring freezes

Hiring freezes have been in the spotlight in recent weeks with several employers, including the likes of Google and Meta, reporting putting the brakes on recruitment activity temporarily.

In early August, Yahoo Finance reported that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, slashed hiring plans for engineers by at least 30%, according to Reuters. Additionally, according to an email viewed by Bloomberg, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, explained that the company would be slowing hiring for the rest of the year.

What are hiring freezes?

On this backdrop, and with more and more companies shaking up hiring efforts, the topic of hiring freezes has been thrown back into the spotlight. Alex Hattingh, Chief People Officer at Employment Hero nicely summarised the meaning of a hiring freeze, explaining that it is “when a business stops hiring new employees to fill company positions”. But, what could be responsible for this, and why might an organisation choose to pare back on hiring?

Why might companies impose a hiring freeze?

According to the CPO, hiring freezes can happen when there is a lack of certainty over the future and this can result in companies holding back on hiring. “Things that can cause uncertainty could include: economic downturn, stock price, inflation, and bleak forecasts,” Hattingh explained.