Brutal discovery as Google parent company Alphabet sacks 12,000 workers

Google has become the latest tech giant to announce a global wave of over 10,000 job cuts — and some workers found out in a brutal fashion.

Google’s parent company Alphabet has become the latest US tech giant to enact large-scale restructuring, announcing that 12,000 jobs will be cut globally on Friday (local time).

Laid-off workers were reportedly informed by email, though in some cases, they only knew they had been fired once they arrived at work, where their access badges were denied.

“Laid-off Google employees were notified of their termination by email overnight. Those that didn’t check their email before going in to work did not realise that they had been terminated until they tried to use their access badges,” a Twitter clarification wrote on such reports early Saturday morning.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the cuts were to correct recent “dramatic growth”.

Google’s parent company Alphabet announced Friday it will cut about 12,000 jobs globally. Picture: Timothy A. Clary

“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,” he said.

“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.

Mr Pichai said the workforce would be reduced by around 12,000 workers.

“The roles we’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review,” he said.

The cuts represent a little over 6 per cent of its total 187,000-strong global workforce.

Mr Pichai said American employees had already been notified about the cuts, while reductions in other countries will take longer due to local labour laws.

Sundar Pichai, CEO. Picture: Sajjad Hussain

“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,” he added.

Severance packages for US employees include at least 16 weeks of salaries, their 2022 bonus, paid vacations and six months of health coverage.

Google prepares for Bing threat

Mr Pichai said that the cuts would “sharpen our focus” towards new priorities, pointing to the necessity of investing even more in artificial intelligence.

“Being constrained in some areas allows us to bet big on others,” he said.

Google’s world-dominating search engine has recently been threatened by the emergence of ChatGPT, a Microsoft-backed chatbot that can generate elaborate, human-like content in seconds.

It’sbelieved early 194,000 tech industry employees have lost their jobs in the US since the beginning of 2022. (Photo by Noah Berger

Microsoft has said the technology would be used to bolster its search engine - Bing - a longtime rival to Google.

“(I’m) optimistic about our ability to deliver on our mission, even on our toughest days,” Mr Pichai said.

Did big tech cuts pay off?

Alphabet shares rose by 3.5 per cent in electronic trading before the stock market opened after news of the cuts.

This tracked the effect of job cuts on other tech giants, with Meta’s share price up 35 per cent since it announced 11,000 job cuts on November 9 and Amazon’s stock was up 13 per cent since 18,000 people were let go earlier this month.

Alphabet’s layoffs come a day after Microsoft said it would reduce staff numbers by 10,000 in the coming months, following similar cuts by Facebook owner Meta, Amazon and Twitter as the tech sector braces for an economic downturn.

Job cuts across the sector have paid off. Picture: Drew Angerer

The cuts followed a significant hiring spree during the coronavirus pandemic when companies scrambled to meet demand as people went online for work, school and entertainment.

Analysts attribute the sector’s recent cuts to overspending and a failure to foresee a slowdown on the horizon.

Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities said the layoffs highlighted a long period of irresponsible spending across a sector basking in “hypergrowth.”

“The reality is tech stalwarts overhired at a pace that was unsustainable, and now darker macro is forcing these layoffs across the tech space,” he explained.

According to tech site Layoffs.fyi, nearly 194,000 industry employees have lost their jobs in the US since the beginning of 2022, not including those announced by Alphabet on Friday.

Hewlett Packard and cloud computing giant Salesforce also announced significant cuts this month as rampant inflation and rising interest rates have slowed growth.

- With AFP