- Google announced on Friday that it will lay off about 12,000 employees, or 6% of its global workforce.
- In a memo to staff, Sundar Pichai, CEO of parent company Alphabet, took responsibility for the job cuts.
- See Pichai’s full message to Googlers below.
Google will lay off 12,000 employees, about 6.4% of its global workforce, Sundar Pichai, CEO of parent company Alphabet, told staff in a memo on Friday. .
“I take full responsibility for the decisions that have brought us here,” Pichai told staff.
“We have seen dramatic growth over the last two years,” Pichai told staff in an email. “In order to keep pace with that growth, we hired for economic realities that are different from those we are currently facing.”
He said the company was conducting a “rigorous review” of the company, and those being laid off were laid off “across alphabets, product areas, functions, levels and geographies.”
Pichai added that the company will hold a town hall meeting on Monday to discuss the news.
“Until then, please take great care to absorb this difficult news,” he wrote.
As of September 30, Alphabet has 186,779 employees.
Other companies such as Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and Amazon have announced layoffs earlier this month. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said in November that it would lay off more than 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce. The chief economist expects job cuts to continue through 2023.
Below is a copy of the note.
google employee,
I have hard news to share. We have decided to reduce our workforce by about 12,000. We have already sent another email to affected US employees. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices.
This means we are saying goodbye to the incredibly talented people we have worked so hard to employ and have loved working with. The fact that these changes affect the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me. I take full responsibility for the decisions that have brought us here.
Over the past two years, we have seen a period of dramatic growth. To keep pace with that growth, we have adopted economic realities that differ from those we are currently facing.
We believe there is a great opportunity ahead of us because of the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI. To fully capture it, you have to make a difficult choice. That’s why we undertook a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our top corporate priorities. The roles that you remove reflect the results of that review. Across alphabets, product areas, features, levels and geographies.
To Retiring Googlers: Thank you for all your hard work helping people and businesses around the world. Your contributions are invaluable and we appreciate them.
This transition won’t be easy, but it will support employees looking for their next opportunity.
In the United States:
- Pay employees during the notice period (minimum 60 days).
- We also offer a severance package of 2 weeks each year at Google in addition to 16 weeks of salary, accelerating vesting of GSUs for at least 16 weeks.
- I will pay my bonus for 2022 and my remaining paid vacation.
- For those affected, we will provide six months of health care, employment services and immigration support.
- Outside the United States, we support our employees in line with local practices.
As a company nearly 25 years old, we are going through a difficult economic cycle. These are critical times to sharpen our focus, rebuild our cost base, and direct our people and capital to our top priorities.
Constraints in some areas allow you to bet big in others. Our AI-first transformation of the company a few years ago was a breakthrough for our business and the industry at large.
Thanks to these early investments, Google’s products are better than ever. We are also preparing to share an all-new experience for users, developers, and businesses. We have a huge opportunity in front of us to use AI across our products, and we are ready to tackle it boldly and responsibly.
All this work is a continuation of the healthy ignorance of the impossible that has been central to our culture from the beginning. If you look around Google today, you can see that same spirit and energy driving what we do. That’s why I remain optimistic about our ability to fulfill our mission, even in the most difficult days. Today is certainly one of them.
I think there are many questions about how we move forward. We will have a Town Hall on Monday. Check the calendar for details. Until then, take great care as you absorb this difficult news. As part of that, if you’re just starting work, start working from home today.
