Google plans to eliminate 12,000 jobs as the tech giant deals with a changing economy, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced in a blog post Friday.
The roles affected span across Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and are in several product areas, functions, levels and regions, Pichai said. Employees affected in the U.S. already have been notified via email, and workers in other countries will be informed in accordance with local practices.
“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,” the CEO wrote. “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”
Pichai outlined the separation benefits all U.S. employees will receive, which includes payment during the at least 60-day notification period; a severance package starting at 16 weeks salary plus another two weeks for every additional year worked at Google; 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time; and six months of healthcare and job placement and immigration assistance.
The company will hold a town hall about the news Monday and allowed employees to work from home Friday.
“As an almost 25-year-old company, we’re bound to go through difficult economic cycles. These are important moments to sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities,” Pichai said.
The Google layoffs come on the heels of reductions across the tech industry. Microsoft on Jan. 18 announced it was slashing 10,000 jobs by the end of Q3 2023. Amazon cut 18,000 positions, and the company revoked job offers to an unspecified number of future employees. Meta rescinded job offers to “a small number of candidates,” and Twitter has undergone massive upheaval since Elon Musk took the reins.
