Google’s recent round of layoffs, including the sudden cut of over 1,000 employees last week, marks a continuing trend of unease and restructuring within the tech giant.
The Verge reports that Google has continued its trend of layoffs, which began a year ago with 12,000 employees being let go. This latest round has been described as “extremely impersonal” by a long-serving engineering director, reflecting a dramatic shift in Google’s culture.
Breitbart News reported on Google’s recent layoffs last week:
Google recently announced layoffs in some of its key divisions as part of its workforce strategy. The affected departments include the Voice Assistant unit; the hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit devices; and the augmented reality (AR) team. This move comes shortly after Google’s acquisition of Fitbit for $2.1 billion in 2021, which was a significant investment in the wearable technology sector. Despite this acquisition, Google has continued to develop and release new versions of its Pixel Watch, a product that directly competes with Fitbit’s offerings and the Apple Watch.
Google initiated several changes throughout the second half of 2023 to improve efficiency, streamline its operations, and realign resources. This restructuring involved eliminating roles across different teams globally. While the exact number of affected roles has not been announced, the impact is being felt amongst employees, as Alphabet has a reported global workforce of 182,381 as of September 2023.
The Alphabet Workers Union commented on the layoffs, calling them “needless” and promising to continue to fight the company “until our jobs are safe!”
The internal response to these layoffs from employees has been marked by a mix of resignation and cynicism, as evidenced by a popular post on Google’s internal meme board, Memegen, sarcastically thanking the “corporate overlords” for what seems like a new annual tradition.
This latest wave of layoffs has affected various teams, including the Maps/Geo, shopping ads, product, and trust and safety teams. Notably, Spyro Karetsos, Google’s chief compliance officer, has departed, with Danielle Romain taking over the role. Additionally, there have been strategic restructurings, such as the Devices and Services group adopting a functional organizational structure and the closure of the AR hardware team, indicating a shift in focus within the company.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has not yet addressed these layoffs internally, and information about employment status has been distributed on a team-by-team basis. The messaging around these layoffs emphasizes flattening the organization, speeding up decision-making, and increasing efficiency, however, a veteran manager commented: “Everyone at Google understands that these [cuts] are coming from the top. There’s no way this was the decision of a few disconnected orgs in isolation.”
Despite these cuts, significant numbers are still employed in areas like Google Cloud and the ad sales group, which are seen as potential targets for future layoffs. Additionally, there is speculation of a larger-than-normal wave of departures in the spring, linked to Google’s annual performance review cycle and changes in the HR department’s policies.
Read more at the Verge here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.