Along with firms from the cryptocurrency space, even companies from the traditional technology industry have been laying off employees. A day back, Microsoft revealed that it was firing 10,000 employees. Prior to that, other prominent names including BlackRock, Amazon, and Meta also announced similar moves.
Now, a new tech giant has joined the list. Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., revealed on Friday that it will slash down around 12,000 jobs. Notably, the lay-off accounts for 6% of its global workforce.
Google To Reengineer Its Cost Base
In an email sent to employees, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said that the cuts will affect jobs globally and across the entire company. Pichai noted, that he took “full responsibility” for the decisions that led the company to this point.
The company, on its part, is dealing with digital advertising slackening. Alongside, its cloud-computing division has not been able to generate growth as well as Amazon or Microsoft.
Nevertheless, Pichai highlighted that the company has a “substantial opportunity” in front of it. Elaborating on why the latest call had to be taken, he wrote,
“These are important moments to sharpen our focus, re-engineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities.”
According to the email, Alphabet will be paying affected employees 16 weeks of severance and six months’ worth of health benefits in the US. Employees from other regions will receive packages based on local laws and regulations.
Earlier during the day, CNBC reported that executives held back a portion of employees’ year-end bonus checks. Citing documents viewed, CNBC noted that Google will pay qualifying full-time employees 80% of their bonus checks this month and the remaining 20% in March or April. Until now, the entire amount used to be sanctioned by January itself.
As reported, Google is delaying a portion of employee bonus checks.