Google To Lay Off 12,000 Employees

Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc announced on Friday plans to lay off 12,000 or 6 per cent of its workforce barely two days after its rival Microsoft announced 10,000 job cuts.

In a memo to employees, Sundar Pichai, Google and Alphabet CEO said the company had rapidly expanded headcount in recent years “for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”

Pichai stated that he takes full responsibility for the hiring spree that the company embarked on during the Covid-19 pandemic. “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.”

He said the company had already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices.

The recent layoffs by tech companies confirm a troubled industry that is aligning itself with economic uncertainties and post-COVID market trends. The tech companies which went on a hiring spree during the COVID-19 pandemic, are now letting go of employees due to a combination of economic factors such as increasing interest rates, ongoing Russia – Ukraine conflicts, elevated fuel prices, and disruptions in the supply chain.

Some of the other companies that have since announced layoffs from last year include  Microsoft (10,000) Amazon (18,000), Meta (11,000) Twitter (4,400), Salesforce (8,000), Tesla (6,000), and Shopify (1,000) among others.