Google announces plans to cut 12,000 jobs
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Google has announced plans to lay off 12,000 workers from around the globe.
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet, broke the news Friday morning in a letter to employees.
“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,” Pichai wrote.
The layoffs are company-wide across all product areas, levels, and regions, according to Pichai.
Pichai says the company has seen “periods of dramatic growth” over the last two years, and to match and fuel that growth, Google 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.”
Laid-off workers in the U.S. will be paid during the full notification period — a minimum of 60 days, Pichai says. Employees will also receive severance packages and six months of healthcare, job placement services, and immigration support for those affected, and 2022 bonuses and vacation time will be paid out.
At the end of 2021, Alphabet — Google’s parent company — had 156,500 full-time employees worldwide, according to data compiled by Statista. It was not immediately clear how many U.S. employees will be affected by the layoffs.
“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,” Pichai said.
Friday’s announcement comes just two days after Microsoft detailed plans to lay off 10,000 employees. Salesforce, which has approximately 2,300 employees in Indianapolis, is set to reduce its workforce by 10%, while Amazon recently said it will cut 18,000.