Google to lay off 12,000 employees after project and function review
- Reference: 1674215610
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/01/20/google_to_chop_12000_employees/
- Source link:
In an email sent to employees today, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent Alphabet, said: “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match this and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”
In calendar Q1 of 2020, Google employed a little more than 120,000 personnel but that had jumped to [1]186,779 by the end of September last year. One large institutional investor has already [2]agitated for change , calling on Google to cut costs, pay staff less and review its portfolio.
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Pichai confirmed today: “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.”
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The evaluation began last year after Google reported a massive calendar [6]Q3 slowdown in revenue growth, up just 6 percent to $69.1 billion, and a 9 percent drop in operating profit to $17.135 billion. At the time, Google said it was reviewing every project underway.
Simplicity Sprint was launched last summer as a way to up productivity of employees by 20 percent, and Google has also implored workers to restrict their expenses, including travel.
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Pichai revealed in the staff memo that it will pay employee the full notice period (min 60 days), a severance package starting at 16 weeks, will pay 2022 bonuses and holiday leave, and will offer half a year of healthcare benefits.
[8]Google's Alphabet to review every project after $6bn decline in profits
[9]We blew too much money hiring like crazy so we gave you the boot – Amazon
[10]Enterprise IT giant layoffs happened because 'some CEOs got ahead of their skis'
[11]Microsoft axes 10,000, already breaking bad news to staff
"As an almost 25-year-old-company, we're bound to go through difficult economic cycles," the CEO said. "These are important moments to sharpen our focus, engineer our cost base, and direct our talents and capital to our highest priorities.
"Being constrained in some areas allows us to bet big on others," he added.
Google isn't alone, far from it. Amazon is axing 18,000 staff, Microsoft [12]yesterday confirmed it is making 10,000 redundant and [13]Salesforce at the beginning of the month said it was expunging 10 percent or 7,300 roles. And others are also making moves.
Pichai told staff there'll be a town hall on Monday where they can ask questions. "Until then, please take good care of yourselves as you absorb this difficult news. As part of that, if you are just starting your working day, please feel free to work from home today." ®
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[1] https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/2022Q3_alphabet_earnings_release.pdf?cache=4156e7f
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/16/tci_fund_google_cut_costs_waymo_compensation/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y8rIs6QC0yvVZY61gjSudQAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y8rIs6QC0yvVZY61gjSudQAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y8rIs6QC0yvVZY61gjSudQAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/26/google_reviewing_every_project_after/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y8rIs6QC0yvVZY61gjSudQAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/26/google_reviewing_every_project_after/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/20/amazon_job_cuts_costs/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/18/enterprise_vendor_layoffs_because_some/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/18/microsoft_job_cuts/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/18/microsoft_job_cuts/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/04/salesforce_7000_job_cuts/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It will absolutely raise the stock price.
What [insert tech co name here] we can do better
or words to that effect.
I guess that like many other tech CEO's, Google boss wants a new island/country/jet/mega-yacht and the stock buybacks have not increased the share value enough for them to cash in their stock options to fund the purchase.
Plus, Google is famous for starting projects, releasing them and then letting them die on the vine.
If it wasn't for those stupid Captcha's I could block the few bits of google that aren't already firewalled off. Google is like MS, Facebook and especially Twatter, EVIL
Re: What [insert tech co name here] we can do better
And, most of the public companies have shareholders who expect profit growth and hence, either share price or dividend growth, all the time.
"We hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."
I mean, you could just say 'We hired too many people by mistake', but then I guess that would involve admitting fault, where as this way you can pretend you were right to hire them and then the universe got it wrong by failing to match your expectations.
Re: "We hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."
Every single fault in the world can be simplified to: "Our predictions were wrong".
Re: "We hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."
That mean from the CEO downwards they made a huge mistake, not being able to forecast with proper skills- or they hired people they really wouldn't need, or they are firing people they would need - so together mass layoffs they should resign for being incompetent.
But we all know this is just the usual move to fatten share prices among decreasing revenues and nothing else. Which is all investors care for - company mismanagement is not important as long as you can earn enough playing Monopoly.
Re: "We hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."
No matter how good your skill set forecasts are just guesses. Sometimes they are right but often they aren't. Just as very few global CEO's were prescient enough in 2019 to predict the pandemic coming, working out what way things were going to go once it arrived was always going to be a guess too.
50% more staff in 3 years
Methinks coolaid was involved...
Competition
Many big organisations over-hire so that they can deprive competition and potential competition of talent.
Had many mates hired by such orgs who were basically doing nothing or just tinkering with internal projects that nobody was using.
If you ensure that you get a clause that you can't work for other companies off the contract, it can be a nice deal. You can work on your own stuff or do odd contracts while not having to worry about money coming in.
Caveat is that if they actually need you, then you have to drop everything you are doing and jump in.
Re: Competition
Just in case any big orgs are reading this: feel free to hire me at a vast wage to do nothing as part of your scheme to deprive competitors of my "talent"...
Own Goal
I'm the kind of person they leave in the market so that their competitors hire me and ruin their chances...
12 years of cheap capital and stock buybacks may have inflated CEOs earnings and boosted stock which for some bizarre reason was the main aspect of their perceived performance. 6 months of moderate interest rates and all of that goes up in flames.
Sounds like these interest rates are having the desired affect and the bottom line matters again.
It's a good time to let the chaff go
Lots of tech companies hoovered up people over the last two years. Fair enough to take stock and let some go, but also a good opportunity to poach talent from competitors: cheaper now than next year.
For the remaining plebs
Work harder! We have standards to break...
Someone is conspicuously absent
IBM
Is it just me or are we witnessing a historical event here. So-called 'FAANG' companies who used to be the private equivalent of job-for-life public service are letting people go! - people who performed like good little monkeys and jumped through the nerd equivalent of SAS Who Dares Wins to become the Google Golden-haired Children are BEING FIRED. And for nothing that is their fault. Wow. End of an era methinks. Thank God I am a nearly-60 year old bastard from the gutter who saved his pennies!
Working from Home might have a big advantage
If you are handling a lot of phone calls, or writing software, documentation, handling sales and accounts then working from Home is possible if we change the corporate environment (that's essential). And while this would be a big change for everyone, it would reduce the amount of carbon released these days as everyone travels to and from work; and work keeps a building running 24*365 hours a year. Let's try getting this working by making all the politicians and parliament workers start by working from home - it would be a good evaluation test, teaching us what works and what needs to be organized and letting us measure the potential carbon emission reduction level.
I think that this has the potential to employ a lot more people all the time although everyone would probably get paid a little less; but everyone would have to spend less money to get to work and home again too.
"As an almost 25-year-old-company..."
Google's been around that long?!?
Man, now I feel old :-(
'economic reality'
in research terminology aka 'metoo'
A profit of $17,135,000,000 only in a quarter? Yeah, it's a good reason to fire people.
And firing people will boost the economy. Wait...