One day in October, Diane Hirsh Theriault’s coworker returned from lunch at Google’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, office, but his work badge was unable to unlock a turnstile. It didn’t take him long to figure out that it meant he was getting fired. Before long, Dr. Hirsh Theriault discovered that the majority of her Cambridge-based Google News engineering colleagues had also lost their employment. According to a union within the corporation, around forty employees were let go from the news division; nevertheless, several of them received offers to work for Google in other departments.

Dr. Hirsh Theriault’s experience is becoming more and more typical at Google, where employees are tense due to gradual job losses that have occurred recently following a year of large layoffs. Approximately ten current and former Google employees, some of whom requested anonymity so they could talk openly about their work, claimed that the layoffs have slowed down projects and forced staff to spend working hours attempting to find out which work groups have been affected and who would be next. Furthermore, the story that has long been used to characterize working at Google has changed as a result of the layoffs: it was once thought of as more of a community for tinkerers than a regular office, where innovation and creative problem-solving were valued. said working there was enjoyable and unique.

Google’s Job Cuts and Cost Reductions Amid Focus on AI

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said more than a year ago that the business was going to eliminate 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, calling it “a difficult decision to set us up for the future.”This year, according to Mr. Pichai, there may be considerably fewer, staggered layoffs as a result of those budget cuts. The corporation has laid off over a thousand workers since the beginning of January. These layoffs have affected staff members working on the voice-operated assistant, YouTube, and the ad sales division.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has stated that it is attempting to reduce costs in order to finance its increasing investment in artificial intelligence. Additionally, according to Google spokeswoman Courtenay Mencini, the business is working to cut back on layers of red tape so that staff members may concentrate on the top objectives. The corporation clarified that reorganizations were a regular part of business and that it was not undertaking a layoff across the board.In a memo to staff on January 17, Mr. Pichai stated, “The reality is that we have to make tough choices to create the capacity for this investment.” “This means reorganizing and, in some cases, eliminating roles” for some departments. He said that teams could still eliminate more positions as the year went on.

Workers claim that things are not as happy at work nowadays. Some of the people who work at Google feel less valued than others, despite the firm going into overdrive to develop artificial intelligence products and stay up with rivals like Microsoft and the start-up OpenAI.In a recent LinkedIn post, Dr. Hirsh Theriault stated that “the buildings are half empty at 4:30.” “Many people, including myself, used to gladly put in extra hours on the weekends and evenings to finish the demo or just to pass the time when they were bored. That is no longer there.

Google’s Organizational Changes and Layoffs: Effect and Employee Concerns

The number of layoffs at Google has been lower than at certain other large tech companies, such as Meta. Furthermore, they represent a much smaller portion of the company’s overall workforce than recent layoffs at businesses like Xerox and Twitch, a livestreaming platform. At the end of 2023, Google employed 182,502 people full-time, a mere 4% decrease from the end of 2022. The business reported a $20.7 billion profit for the last quarter of 2023 on Tuesday, a 52 percent increase over the same period the previous year.

However, Google reorganized work groups and eliminated management levels in addition to making larger changes to the way the business ran. Employees claim that the restructure has been implemented erratically and with inadequate communication. One source claimed that although some of the employees were given the opportunity to reapply, YouTube failed to notify other organizations that depend on one of its vendor manager teams, which is in charge of authorizing purchase orders so that content moderation companies are paid.

Since the business hasn’t given them much information about where it is making the cuts, a Google employee in Switzerland started an internal record to track the job cuts when layoffs resumed in January. The document, along with news articles, social media, and the antiquated workplace gossip machine, has evolved into a vital information resource, according to the staff. “This is a nightmare from an HR perspective,” said Meghan M. Biro, whose company, Talent Culture, produces content regarding HR best practices. “It totally changes their perception as a desirable employer.”

Google’s Transparency Amidst Layoffs and Divisional Challenges

Google noted that while teams were going through changes, executives had been very transparent in their communication. Employees cautioned in interviews that some of the layoffs would cause disruptions to the business’s divisions that are already having difficulty finishing difficult assignments. Google laid off hundreds of workers from its core engineering team in January. This team was in charge of the company’s infrastructure and tools. As the regulation takes effect on March 6, assisting Google in complying with the European Digital Markets Act is one of the core division’s top objectives. Tech behemoths will be required by law to give customers options for online services, such web browsers, and to obtain permission before sharing user data within the organization. However, those putting in the effort worry that the business is running behind schedule.

According to Google, it began distributing consent screens to users in Europe in January and plans to make additional adjustments before the deadline. It further stated that the timeline will not be impacted by the recent layoffs in its core division. Working on experimental projects was long encouraged among Google employees. However, during the past year, trying something new has proven to be dangerous, according to four employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The business has changed the focus of X, a “moonshot factory” that attempted to create new businesses, and has all but shut down Area 120, an internal incubator that attempted to create new goods and services. Employees at Google, according to the corporation, are always engaged in “extraordinarily innovative, ambitious things.”

Google Employee Initiation for Side Projects Is Declining

Five respondents stated that employees are less likely to request the so-called side projects, or 20 percent of the work, which were once a means for them to investigate an intriguing idea outside of their normal work. For Rupert Breheny, who worked on products like Google Street View in Maps for 16 years at Google, largely in Zurich, that was a regrettable change. “Your passion was the driving force behind your success at Google,” stated Mr. Breheny, who lost his job last summer. “You could enjoy creating things.” That’s how it remained for a very long time.