San Francisco, Apr 16 (IANS): Google which hired 20,000 employees in 2019 and planned to recruit similar number this year has decided to freeze hiring for the rest of the year as the company fights COVID-19 pandemic.

According to The Verge, Google will adjust its investments in strategic areas like data centres and marketing.

"We'll be slowing down the pace of hiring, while maintaining momentum in a small number of strategic areas, and onboarding the many people who've been hired but haven't started yet," Google said in a statement.

In an internal memo, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that now is the time to significantly slow down the pace of hiring, "while maintaining momentum in a small number of strategic areas where users and businesses rely on Google for ongoing support, and where our growth is critical to their success".

The tech giant is also "recalibrating the focus and pace of our investments in areas like data centers and machines, and non-business essential marketing and travel".

Pichai last month announced the company will provide over $800 million to support small and medium businesses (SMBs), health organisations, governments and health workers on the frontline of global COVID-19 pandemic.

The commitment would include $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organisation (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other measures to help local communities.

According to Business Insider, Microsoft is also "temporarily pausing recruitment" for some roles.