Google will lay off over 11,000 employees, according to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google. To announce this, he sent an email to the employees of the company.
This comes after Microsoft and Amazon both laid off 28,000 employees from their respective businesses. This was officially announced on Friday, January 20, bringing the total number of major U.S. tech companies that have laid off employees due to fears of a coming recession to 12.
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, stated that the company will immediately commence layoffs in the United States. He stated that the procedure would “take longer due to local laws and practices” in other nations.
Pichai added that the web search and video sharing giant will provide U.S. employees with 16 weeks of severance pay and two weeks for every additional year they work for Google.
Tech companies are currently dealing with a number of issues, not the least of which are rising interest rates and inflation over the past year, which have crushed technology shares and compelled advertisers to reduce their spending on online ads.
American technology shares have suffered as a result of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes. In turn, the gloomy macroeconomic climate has increased the pressure on those businesses to drastically reduce their workforces.
Meanwhile, on January 17, Amazon began a new round of layoffs, affecting over 18,000 employees. Microsoft announced plans to lay off 10,000 employees on the same day.
Since Elon Musk took over as CEO in October, Twitter has also made layoffs, reducing its workforce by more than half.
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Reports are that, Google was delaying the payment of a portion of employees’ year-end bonus checks until March or April rather than paying them all in January, which led to the layoffs announced on Friday.
The complete memo that Pichai sent to Google employees can be found below:
Googlers,
I have some difficult news to share. We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We’ve already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices.
This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I’m deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.
Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.
I am confident about the huge opportunity in front of us thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI. To fully capture it, we’ll need to make tough choices. So, we’ve undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company. The roles we’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions.
To the Googlers who are leaving us: Thank you for working so hard to help people and businesses everywhere. Your contributions have been invaluable and we are grateful for them.
While this transition won’t be easy, we’re going to support employees as they look for their next opportunity.
In the US:
We’ll pay employees during the full notification period (minimum 60 days).
We’ll also offer a severance package starting at 16 weeks salary plus two weeks for every additional year at Google, and accelerate at least 16 weeks of GSU vesting.
We’ll pay 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time. We’ll be offering 6 months of healthcare, job placement services, and immigration support for those affected.
Outside the US, we’ll support employees in line with local practices.
As an almost 25-year-old company, we’re bound to go through difficult economic cycles. These are important moments to sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities.
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Being constrained in some areas allows us to bet big on others. Pivoting the company to be AI-first years ago led to groundbreaking advances across our businesses and the whole industry.
Thanks to those early investments, Google’s products are better than ever. And we’re getting ready to share some entirely new experiences for users, developers and businesses, too. We have a substantial opportunity in front of us with AI across our products and are prepared to approach it boldly and responsibly.
All this work is a continuation of the “healthy disregard for the impossible” that’s been core to our culture from the beginning. When I look around Google today, I see that same spirit and energy driving our efforts. That’s why I remain optimistic about our ability to deliver on our mission, even on our toughest days. Today is certainly one of them.
I’m sure you have many questions about how we’ll move forward. We’ll be organizing a town hall on Monday. Check your calendar for details. Until then, please take good care of yourselves as you absorb this difficult news. As part of that, if you are just starting your work day, please feel free to work from home today.
-Sundar
