Google lays off hundreds of workers in its engineering department, voice assistant team
Google carried out another big round of layoffs on Wednesday, reportedly focused on staff working on its voice-based virtual assistant, Pixel mobile phone, Fitbit trackers, and Nest thermostats.
According to The New York Times, the tech giant has cut “hundreds of workers,” and the layoffs have impacted its core engineering division.
The step is aimed at helping Google reduce expenses and focus on AI.
“We’ve had to make some difficult decisions about ongoing employment of some Google employees, and we regret to inform you that your position is being eliminated,” the company told workers, per text reviewed by the NYT.
A Google spokesperson shared a statement with Daily Hive over email, saying the company is “responsibly investing” in its biggest priorities.
“To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better and to align their resources to their biggest product priorities,” the statement read.
Several Google employees have shared updates on social media about being laid off from their roles.
“Google’s back at it again with the layoffs. This time, my team and I were all impacted,” Daniel T. Hall, director of UX at Google, posted on X.
Google’s back at it again with the layoffs. This time my team and I were all impacted. If anyone is looking for some of the best designers I’ve ever worked with (or me) do let me know. I’d love to make some connections.
— Daniel T. Hall (@danielthall) January 11, 2024
Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), representing workers at Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., posted about the layoffs, calling them “needless.”
“Our members and teammates work very hard to build great products for our users, and the company cannot continue to fire our coworkers while making billions every quarter,” AWU-CWA said.
Tonight, Google began another round of needless layoffs. Our members and teammates work hard every day to build great products for our users, and the company cannot continue to fire our coworkers while making billions every quarter. We won’t stop fighting until our jobs are safe!
— Alphabet Workers Union (AWU-CWA) (@AlphabetWorkers) January 11, 2024
The news comes just after Amazon laid off several hundred employees. The cuts happened in the company’s streaming and studio operations, including Prime Video.
We asked Google if any Canadian employees were let go in Wednesday’s round of layoffs, and Google said it would not be sharing information about the local impact of the layoffs right now but confirmed that some role eliminations have affected teams globally.
It also confirmed that impacted employees are being supported with severance offerings, outplacement services, and the opportunity to explore other roles at the company.
Google stressed that Canada is one of its priority markets and that it will continue to hire for critical roles across the company as it has done for “well over a year.”
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