Google parent Alphabet reportedly fires 12,000 employees with immediate effect

Google parent Alphabet has freshly announced layoffs, affecting around 12,000 employees, a new report said. The job cuts are effective immediately across various sectors and business areas, however, in select locations only. Alphabet has said the layoffs affect 6 percent of the global workforce.

According to Reuters, which claims to have seen an internal staff memo sent by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai to employees, the job cuts are being made in areas including recruitment, corporate teams, and various engineering and product sectors within Google. The memo has mentioned that the US staff of Alphabet will be impacted immediately, while employees elsewhere should be ready for any news about their roles.

“We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We’ve already sent a seaprate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices,” said Pichai in the memo.

The impacted employees will get support from the company as “they look for their next opportunity.” This includes payment to employees for their full notification period of minimum 60 days, severange package starting at 16 weeks plus two weeks for every additional year at Google, 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time, 6 months of healthcare, and immigration support.

The company’s decision comes at a time when Google is making big investments in a fledgling software area called generative artificial intelligence. Its rival Microsoft is also making huge investments in the same field, and had previously announced layoffs.

Microsoft announced job cuts across the company, impacting 10,000 jobs, in a bid to adjust to the current economic downturn. Before Microsoft, Meta, Twitter, Snap, and several other tech firms had cut jobs to become lean and more disciplined keeping the market conditions currently.

Here is the full memo sent by Sundar Pichai:

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 doe 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 responsibday 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 Al. To fully capture it, we’ll need to make tough choices. So, we’ve undertaken a rigorous view 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 to 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 650 days)

We also offer a severance package starting at 56 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’s 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.

Being constrained in some areas allows us to bet big on others. Pivoting the company to be Al 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 Al across our products and are prepared to approach & boldly and responsibly.

All this work is a continuation of the “healthy disregard for that impossible that’s been core to our culture from the beginning When look around Google today, 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

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