Google Parent Alphabet to Lay Off 12,000 Employees
Employees were informed in an email from CEO Sundar Pichai.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced on Friday that it will be cutting 12,000 jobs. The news was delivered by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who told employees that the company would begin the layoffs in the U.S. immediately.
The process would take longer in other countries, Pichai wrote, due to “due to local laws and practices.”
Laid-off employees in the U.S. will receive 16 weeks of severance pay, along with two additional weeks of pay for each year they’ve worked at Google. They’ll also be paid for the full 60-day notification period, have their vacation time paid-out and will receive any 2022 bonuses. The company will also offer 6 months of healthcare, job placement services, and immigration support for those affected.
Pichai noted that a separate email had already been sent to employees affected by the layoffs.
The firings at Google follow an industry-wide trend of mass layoffs. On Wednesday, it was reported that Microsoft would be laying off 10,000 of its own employees. Similar firing patterns have recently made waves through companies such as Amazon and Twitter.
Google’s layoffs, like most other tech companies, were attributed to over-hiring at the start of the pandemic, followed by a decreased demand for digital services.
“Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” Pichai wrote in the email. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”
Pichai noted that as a company founded nearly 25 years ago, Google is “bound to go through economic cycles. These are important moments to sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities.”
A town hall will be held for Google employees on Monday to address the layoffs.
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