The past year has been a really challenging one for the tech industry as it is among the sectors that have fallen into some kind of recession, causing many tech companies to lay off a portion of their workforce: from Meta and Twitter, to Microsoft and Amazon.
Today, the mass layoffs still continue and Google has joined the growing list of tech giants cutting jobs after a pandemic hiring spree.
On January 20, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, announced in a staff memo that Google would lay off 12,000 employees.
“Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” Pichai wrote in the memo he sent to the employees. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”
He then continued that to achieve their goal and attain more opportunities, they “need to make tough choices,” and that includes laying off approximately 6.4% of its workforce across the world.
“We’ve undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company. The roles we’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels, and regions,” Pichai said.
Pichai also revealed that they sent an email to the US Google employees on the same day the statement was published on their site. He added that for other countries, “the process will take longer due to local laws and practices.”
Even though the tech giant sent an email to inform their employees, some accused the tech company of cutting off some employees’ access to their emails. In turn, they found out about their status and whether they still got the job or not in a quite similar manner to the popular Netflix show Squid Game.
In its New York headquarter, one LinkedIn user posted that Google employees only found out that they got laid out when their passes turned red. If it turned green, it meant that the employees were allowed to go inside the office.
“Google employees who arrived at the New York office on Friday morning and stood in a line to test their passes,” user Chris Donnelly wrote. “If it turned green, you were allowed in. If it turned red, you [would have] been laid off.”
The post added that employees no longer had access to their email so the news whether they have been laid off by the company or not wasn’t received.
Google even faced a lot of heat as the alleged style of mass layoff reached the ears and news feeds of people on Twitter, calling the manner “Squid Games, Google style.”
Google NYC employees who arrived at the office early this morning stood in a line to test their badges– if light turned red, it meant you had been laid off. if green, you were safe. 👎
— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) January 20, 2023
The important context that these people got an email in the morning saying they were fired, but hadn't seen that email so they showed up to work anyway leading to the situation Daniel Roberts described? https://t.co/9Cn6oyotDX
— . (@masonpelt) January 20, 2023
Though it has been fact-checked, most people didn’t have the opportunity to check their emails so it’s kinda true … pic.twitter.com/oEsOK3LknA
— Jeffrey Fermin (@FerminTalksWork) January 20, 2023
A laid off employee deserves atleast a phone call from their manager. Else there is no meaning to all the team building sessions conducted by the companies !! https://t.co/MkmUqqfnLa
— Nellore PeddaReddy (@Tenali_RK) January 20, 2023
What — and I can’t stress this enough — the fuck. https://t.co/4hO9aSnSHP
— Derek Johnson (@derekjESQ) January 20, 2023
What a shitty way to do things, @Google https://t.co/fXkeDU379w
— Liberal Wombat is on Bluesky (@LiberalWombat) January 20, 2023
What dystopian cruelty is this? https://t.co/toa6z6K4Gu
— Christina Greer (@Dr_CMGreer) January 20, 2023
https://twitter.com/alexisthenedd/status/1616526142084907008?t=lCFFTO0aCRKKikSij0m4oQ&s=19
Squid Games, Google style! https://t.co/lFi4YI27F8
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) January 20, 2023
— Buzz Bishop (@buzzbishop) January 20, 2023
As of this writing, Pichai or any other representatives of the tech giant have yet to comment on the accusation. However, according to a statement, Pichai remained optimistic about Google’s future despite the mass layoff.
“All the work is a continuation of the ‘healthy disregard for the impossible’ that’s been core to our culture from the beginning,” Pichai said. “When I look around Google today, I see that same spirit and energy driving our efforts. That’s why I remain optimistic about our ability to deliver on our mission, even on our toughest days. Today is certainly one of them.”
He then told the employees that they will organize a town hall and instructed them to check their calendar for further details. “Until then, please take good care of yourselves as you absorb this difficult news,” he ended.
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