Google employees worried after 12,000 co-workers were cut

Google employees, after watching peers at rival tech firms lose their jobs, were concerned about when their layoffs would come. Then on Friday morning some of them could not access their corporate accounts.

The company, owned by Alphabet Inc., ultimately decided to cut 12,000 employees, or 6% of its workforce. Employees described a mostly orderly if impersonal transition, communicating mostly through the same technology products they helped create, with no direct answers to individuals as to why they had been included or not.

Some people found out they lost their jobs through messages sent to their personal email addresses. With no central way of seeing which roles have been eliminated, remaining employees texted their peers on the messaging app Google Chat to see if it worked. If not, it means the person lost their job, according to a Google employee who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

On messaging apps and internal chat rooms, employees began offering theories and sharing concerns about the future. The layoffs appeared to be structural rather than performance-based. The performance reviews have not yet been finalized until later this month, according to several employees who spoke with Bloomberg, with some employees saying their roles are still at risk of being terminated, who spoke about internal affairs. Told not to talk.

Employees who had lost their jobs gathered on messaging platforms like Discord and Slack to stay in touch.

For months, the search giant held Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. Tech giants such as TechCrunch have avoided thinning their ranks, laying off thousands of employees. When the cuts were made, it seemed to have an impact across a wide spectrum of the company.

Jeremy Joslin, a software engineer, wrote on Twitter, “It’s hard for me to believe that after 20 years at #Google I unexpectedly found out about my last day via an email.” “What a slap in the face. I wish I could say goodbye to everyone face to face.”

The company’s prized artificial intelligence teams mostly escaped unharmed. In a message to employees announcing the layoffs, Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai touted the cuts as a way for the company to sharpen its focus on artificial intelligence.

But Area 120, an in-house incubator for new ideas, was busted. The unit’s managing partner and three projects employees left to join Google, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, but virtually all other employees were laid off.

Visual designer, Google employee Dallas Barnes wrote on Twitter that he was the only member of his team who survived the cut.

“It is hard to put into words the sadness, frustration and confusion I am feeling at this moment,” he wrote.

The Alphabet Workers’ Union, a so-called minority union that does not have collective bargaining rights, said the layoffs underscored the importance of worker organizing.

“This is abhorrent and unacceptable behavior from a company that made $17 billion in profit last quarter alone,” Parul Kaul, executive president of the Alphabet workers’ union, said in a statement. “With billions in benefits and executive compensation untouched, our jobs should not be on the chopping block.”

Keith Chaney, who worked on Google’s partnership strategy team for about a year, said there was a sense of foreboding among Googlers about the prospect of layoffs, especially as other tech companies cut their workforce in recent weeks. started announcing. He lost his job on Friday.

“I wasn’t super surprised,” he said. “There was an emerging idea that this might happen. I didn’t know to what extent and when.”

Channi said he was looking forward to the opportunity to take up entrepreneurship. Last year, he launched a startup called Paidbo, a platform that lets users create “personal advisory boards” dedicated to their personal or professional development.

“I am grateful to work for Google and especially grateful that they allowed me to pursue a startup while working there,” said Chane. “Part of me is excited to throw myself full throttle into a startup. With Disruption, I feel like I’ll be able to give it a little more effort.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)