https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/25/alphabet-google-employed-more-contractors-than-direct-employees-report.html

Earlier this year, Google parent company Alphabet had more contract workers than direct employees for the first time ever, a person who viewed the numbers on an internal database told Bloomberg.

That's no small number: Alphabet reported 85,050 employees in the first quarter. (That headcount number jumped to 89,058 in Q2, but it's not known whether the contractor number is higher than that.)