Google Hires AstraZeneca's Fiona Cicconi As Personnel Head

Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOGL has hired pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca plc’s AZN Fiona Cicconi to head its personnel operations, the Associated Press reports.

What Happened: Cicconi will be replacing Eileen Naughton, who disclosed in February she would step down as the company faced mounting employee protests ahead of COVID-19-related lockdown.

Cicconi's addition comes at a critical time for Google, as the search engine giant pushes back its full office return plans to September and adopts a hybrid "flexible workweek" model.

“COVID has changed many aspects of how we work, and this is one of our highest priorities in 2021. The role of people operations is central to this work,” Sundar Pichai said.

Why It Matters: One of Cicconi’s many challenges will be to ensure personnel productivity as Google extends the work-from-home period for its workforce.

Moreover, the search-engine giant faces multiple protests from employees who say Google has strayed away from the “Don’t Be Evil” motto that co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin embraced in the early years, AP reports.

Google also faced employee outrage over the abrupt firing of artificial intelligence scholar Timnit Gebru. Reportedly, Pichai told employees last week that Google is reviewing Gebru’s exit. AP notes that the review could involve Cicconi.

Price Action: GOOG shares closed 0.44% higher at $1,767.77 on Tuesday.