In France, Alphabet is in talks to reduce the workforce through voluntary departures. (Representative)
After announcing the biggest round of layoffs in their history, America’s biggest tech companies are now learning how difficult it is to downsize in Europe.
In the US, companies can announce massive job cuts and let go hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of employees within months – and many have done. Meanwhile, in Europe, labor protections have stalled mass layoffs among tech companies, making it nearly impossible in some countries to dismiss people without prior consultation with employee interest groups.
This has left thousands of tech workers in limbo, unsure about whether they will be affected by talks that could drag on indefinitely.
In France, Google parent Alphabet Inc. is currently in talks to reduce headcount through voluntary departures, offering severance packages it hopes will be generous enough to spare workers, in this case The people familiar said, asking not to be identified because the information is not public. Amazon has tried to quell the resignations of some senior managers by giving them as much as a year’s salary and leave for employees to leave so that their shares can be vested and paid out as bonuses, the position said a person with knowledge of the matter.
According to a person familiar with the matter, in both France and Germany, where labor laws are some of the strongest in the European Union, Google is currently in talks with works councils — company-specific groups whose elected employee representatives are responsible for workforce issues. negotiate with the management. By law, companies have to bargain with these councils before implementing layoffs – a sometimes lengthy process that involves information gathering, negotiation and the prospect of recourse.
Because of these requirements, the person said, Google branches in Germany and France will be some of the last places to be affected by the cuts, if at all.
When reached for comment, Google acknowledged the talks and said it was not planning to implement layoffs in Romania, Greece or Austria.
A Google spokeswoman said in response to questions from Bloomberg, “We are working carefully and individually through each country where the cuts are taking place to fully comply with local legal requirements, which apply to each country.” varies from place to place, is complex and takes time.”
In Paris, where Google has about 1,600 employees, a works council is in talks with the company about how many employees — and what kind — will be included in a voluntary mass departure plan. People familiar with the process say a resolution may still take weeks, and in the meantime things will continue as usual. According to an employee who requested anonymity, the management has made it clear that no one will be forced.
In contrast, according to Unite the union representative Matthew Vale, in the UK, where labor protections are not as strict, an estimated 500 Googlers out of 8,000 will have to be laid off – a 6% redundancy rate in line with the firm’s global target. Negotiations with the works council will result in confidential severance packages, but the number of departures is not up for negotiation. “They are trying to do the legal minimum,” said Valle, referring to the ongoing bargaining process.
The same is true in Dublin, where unions claim Google plans to lay off 240 workers, and in Zurich, where unions estimate the number of layoffs will be around 200.
Employees recently established a cross-country Google Works Council for EU countries, which includes the UK and Switzerland. It is expected to be operational in about six months, and will have a powerful collective voice in future consultations. According to Vale, this represented “a major change”, as the company would have to give employees much more advance notice about the reorganization. This European Works Council will consist of representatives who are Google employees and will serve for a four-year term. Documents show council members will liaise with Google management and will be headquartered in Dublin.
While the different standards of treatment have not caused friction among Google employees spread across the globe, “people have felt that the way things are done in the US versus France and Germany” are different, said Parul, executive chair of the Alphabet workers’ union. Kaul and a software engineer at New York-based Google.
He said, “It’s inspirational to people in America that things are different elsewhere – it’s a blueprint for what people can fight for.”
More than 170,000 full-time tech workers are employed by Amazon, Alphabet and Meta across the continent and the UK, with software engineers often earning salaries that are half that of their counterparts in the US.
At Amazon France, with about 1,500 office workers in Paris, some senior managers with 5 to 8 years of experience were offered up to a year’s salary, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person said the departing employees were allowed to stay on so-called “gardening leave” until May, when Amazon vests shares and is paid in the form of bonuses.
In previous years, employees were offered less than one month’s compensation per year, said one of the people.
At Amazon’s German branch, a person familiar with the matter said the company has started laying off people still in their probationary period, and has offered offers of voluntary departure.
In Luxembourg, Amazon’s exiting employees have been given one month’s salary per year of service, with additional pay determined by national laws, according to a person familiar with the matter. The layoff offers began in the middle of last month, the person added, and people would depart on April 1 or June 1, depending on whether they opted for a two-month window to find jobs internally. .
An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment on specific cases. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in January that the company would communicate with affected employees or, where applicable, with employee representative bodies.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)