‘Devastated, shocked’: sacked Google employees left distraught as layoffs impact 12,000

Read the full text of CEO Sundar Pichai’s email to employees

“So after over 16.5 years at Google, I appear to have been let go via an automated account deactivation at 3 am this morning as one of the lucky 12,000. I don’t have any other information, as I haven’t received any of the other communications on the boilerplate “you’ve been let go” website (which I now also can’t access) said I should receive,” wrote Justin Moore, a now terminated employee at the search giant.

Google parent Alphabet on January 20 announced that it plans to cut about 12,000 jobs or 6% of its global workforce.

The layoffs will affect jobs globally and across the entire company, chief executive officer Sundar Pichai told employees in an email on Friday, writing that he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here”.

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Pichai said in the note, “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.”

Pichai added that the tech giant will “support employees as they look for their next opportunity.”

“It’s hard for me to believe that after 20 years at #Google, I unexpectedly find out about my last day via an email. What a slap in the face. I wish I could have said goodbye to everyone face to face,” said another Twitter user with the profile name Jeremy Joslin.

As layoffs spread across the technology sector, employees are becoming wary of when things go wrong next for them as the uncertainty of getting laid off looms large.

We reported in November, citing media reports, that Google had asked managers to identify the poorest-performing 6% of employees.

Google employed around 1.56 lakh people at the end of 2021. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that the median salary at the company was $2,95,884.

It has joined a growing list of tech companies that have cut their workforces in recent months, including Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter.

Also read: Amazon India staff being fired in offices, employees breaking downLayoffs in India

Back home, startups like Swiggy, ShareChat and Dunzo are among those that have announced layoffs amid an economic downturn, ET reported on January 16.

MohallaTech, the parent firm of vernacular social media platform ShareChat and short-video app Moj, laid off around 20% of its staff or over 500 employees in a fresh round of layoffs. While Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo reduced its workforce by about 3% of its employees recently, cloud kitchen firm Rebel Foods, which houses brands like Behrouz Biryani and Oven Story, has also cut headcount.

On January 20, Swiggy sacked 380 employees, CEO Sriharsha Majety told employees in an internal note. Majety said the company’s food delivery business has been growing more slowly than expected. He also said that the company overhired over the past two years due to “a case of poor judgement” on his part.

ETtech

Others like virtual and hybrid events platform Hubilo fired about 120 employees, or 35% of its workforce, after witnessing “de-growth” in 2022 even as fintech players like Cashfree Payments and PayU cut jobs amid an overall softening of the market.