Google is reducing its workforce by approximately 12,000 employees worldwide. CEO Sundar Pichai explained this decision and his vision for the future of Google, as well as compensation for the employees impacted by this massive layoff.
After bringing a revolution to the internet with the release of its search engine back in 1998, Google has been shifting its focus to AI in the past few years. In 2014, Google acquired DeepMind Technologies, a company creating neural networks recreating some mechanisms of the human brain. Despite these early investments in AI, Google faces heavy competition including from OpenAI and its AI chatbot ChatGPT, which received a massive $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019.
In a letter sent to all employees and later published online, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company would be parting ways with approximately 12,000 employees. This “difficult decision” comes after two years of growth that led the company to have “hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today,” according to Pichai. While the CEO takes full responsibility for the layoffs, he also highlighted the future of Google and its investments in AI.
Google employees impacted by these layoffs and based in the US already received an email to inform them of their notification period. The company will pay their salaries during this period of a minimum of 60 days as well as 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time. Google also offers a severance package starting at 16 weeks' salary plus two weeks for every additional year at the company, on top of shares of Google capital stock. To help support employees while they look for their next opportunity, Google gives six months of healthcare, job placement services, and immigration support for those affected. While these compensations are guaranteed for US Google employees, workers from other countries will receive support “in line with local practices.”
This massive Google layoff comes a few days after Microsoft announced that it would eliminate a total of 10,000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. Both Google and Microsoft hired for various positions as the COVID-19 pandemic boosted their growth, but as the economic situation is going back to its normal state the companies are parting ways with thousands of employees. Fellow GAFAM member and Facebook’s parent company Meta also confirmed mass layoffs, with over 11,000 expected to leave the company through the first quarter of 2023.
Source: Sundar Pichai - Google