Express News Service
BENGALURU: A day after Microsoft reported 10,000 job cuts, tech giant Google’s parent Alphabet on Friday said it will lay off 12,000 people across the world. As recession fears mount, big tech companies have been on a firing spree after a period of growth during the pandemic era. After the dramatic growth stopped, the bloated workforce became a burden for the firms.
Breaking the bad news to employees in an email, Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted that the company hired liberally in the past two years to keep pace with growth. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today… I am deeply sorry for that,” he added.
Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm, told this newspaper that tech layoffs in the US and the start-up layoffs in India are a lesson for the future for meaningful hiring during a bull run. “Some of these companies and leaders may not be able to give the excuse next time that they over-hired,” he added.
In the first week of January, Amazon had said that it would increase the number of layoffs from 10,000 to 18,000. More than 1,500 employees in India have been impacted due to job cuts.
The impact of both Google and Microsoft layoffs in India could not be ascertained. Alphabet’s total number of employees as on September 30, 2022, was 1,86,779. In India, it employs over 5,000 people.
Alphabet said it will pay employees for the entire notice period (a minimum of 60 days). The company will also offer a severance package starting at 16 weeks salary plus two weeks for every additional year at Google. Outside the US, it will support employees in line with local practices.
BENGALURU: A day after Microsoft reported 10,000 job cuts, tech giant Google’s parent Alphabet on Friday said it will lay off 12,000 people across the world. As recession fears mount, big tech companies have been on a firing spree after a period of growth during the pandemic era. After the dramatic growth stopped, the bloated workforce became a burden for the firms.
Breaking the bad news to employees in an email, Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted that the company hired liberally in the past two years to keep pace with growth. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today… I am deeply sorry for that,” he added.
Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm, told this newspaper that tech layoffs in the US and the start-up layoffs in India are a lesson for the future for meaningful hiring during a bull run. “Some of these companies and leaders may not be able to give the excuse next time that they over-hired,” he added.
In the first week of January, Amazon had said that it would increase the number of layoffs from 10,000 to 18,000. More than 1,500 employees in India have been impacted due to job cuts.
The impact of both Google and Microsoft layoffs in India could not be ascertained. Alphabet’s total number of employees as on September 30, 2022, was 1,86,779. In India, it employs over 5,000 people.
Alphabet said it will pay employees for the entire notice period (a minimum of 60 days). The company will also offer a severance package starting at 16 weeks salary plus two weeks for every additional year at Google. Outside the US, it will support employees in line with local practices.
