Google braces for more job cuts, Pichai announces decision in internal memo

Google which has asked over a thousand of its employees to quit since January 10 is bracing for another round of layoffs.

According to The Verge, company CEO Sundar Pichai conveyed the news to employees in an internal memo on Wednesday (January 18).

Stating that the company plans to prioritise on investing in its “ambitious goals” this year, Pichai said the same requires making “tough choices” like job cuts.

The company, to accommodate its goals, has so far laid off and reorganised staff in its hardware, ad sales, search, shopping, maps, policy, core engineering and YouTube teams. The most impacted have been employees in Google Nest, Pixel, Fitbit, ad sales and augmented reality teams.

Pichai, however, assured that not every team at the IT company will be affected by the job cut.

“These role eliminations are not at the scale of last year’s reductions, and will not touch every team,” he said, in an indirect reference to last year’s string of layoffs in which the company knocked off over 12,000 employees its rolls.

Eye on Artificial Intelligence

Hinting at “role eliminations,” Pichai said the layoffs this year are being done to remove layers “to simplify execution and drive velocity in some areas.”

“Many of these changes are already announced, though to be upfront, some teams will continue to make specific resource allocation decisions throughout the year where needed, and some roles may be impacted,” he said in the memo.

In 2023, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced its plans to cut 12,000 jobs – six per cent of its global workforce.

The job cuts were part of the company’s plans to cut cost and restructure its employee structure.

The latest and upcoming rounds of layoffs are being attributed to advancements in Artificial Intelligence and the company’s bid to invest in the technology and, streamline jobs, and restructure its employee structure.