[jimbob45]

There are real concerns that our productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the headcount we have

Why would you say something so stupid? Has the most powerful CEO in the world really never heard the adage, "Praise publicly, criticize privately"? Criticism is fine but blanket criticism of staff is virtually never the right move.

[nh23423fefe]

Why is lying in public a good idea?

The memo was "leaked" by cnbc, so Pichai wasn't even doing what you say he did anyway.

[jimbob45]

At a meeting between executives and Google employees, Pichai said that the company’s productivity has fallen behind its targets considering its number of employees, CNBC reported, after speaking with attendees and reviewing internal documents.

My initial impression was that this was a memo that had been fanned out to the majority of Googlers, which is the sin I was referring to. Now that you mention it, though, it's possible that the "Google employees" the above quote is referring to is actually just select members of management, which would be much better.

[chrismcb]

The memo wasn't "leaked"by cnbc. Unless it was given to cnbc confidentiality. It was either leaked by an employee to cnbc, or more likely it was given to cnbc by an executive.

[_jal]

You say things like that to set a mood in the workforce. The desired mood here is fear, to provoke pliancy. If people are worried about their jobs, they are less likely to whine about other things and keep their heads down when axes start swinging.