While the flurry of tech redundancies has slowed in recent weeks, it seems that tech workers aren’t quite safe yet, as Google announces big cuts to its recruitment teams.
Like many of its contemporaries, such as Microsoft and Meta, Google has already made big job cuts in 2023, cutting loose over 12,000 roles earlier in the year.
Google stated that its pace of hiring was slowing, hence the need for fewer recruiters.
Recruitment Teams Out at Google
Google announced yesterday that it was cutting the number of staff in its recruitment teams, with staff being told via a video meeting on Wednesday, a report from CNBC confirms.
The exact figures aren’t know at this time, but it is expected that hundreds of roles will be affected within the recruitment departments.
Google has stated that it has been slowing the pace of its hiring (as have many tech companies this year), and therefore its need for dedicated recruiters has diminished.
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The company did confirm that those whose roles have been cut will have full access to their office this week, as well as online systems past that, following criticism in previous layoffs that redundant staff were almost instantly cut off.
Not Google’s First Layoff Rodeo
Google isn’t a stranger to layoffs – earlier in the year it laid off a huge 12,000 employees, around 6% of its workforce.
At the time, CEO Sundar Pichai said he took ‘full responsibility’ for the layoffs, which must have been slim comfort for all those affected, although the firm did offer severance and six months of health benefits and immigration support.
Three months ago, the company also laid off hundreds of employees from the Waze platform, which it purchased in 2013.
More Layoffs Coming at Google?
While the Google staff who escaped the job cuts this time are probably breathing a sigh of relief this morning, it doesn’t pay to comfortable in the tech industry right now. We’ve seen almost every major tech firm make huge cuts over the last year, with the one stand out being Apple, whose CEO Tim Cook calls layoffs ‘a last resort’.
Last month a leaked internal memo showed that advancements in Google’s AI Assistant program meant that the company was mulling making redundancies in this area.
Even those who get to keep their jobs at Google might be feeling slightly sour on the company, as it has repeatedly cut perks, such as onsite cooking and massage, and limiting travel expenses. It has also asked workers to share desks.
However, these losses might be a small price to pay for keeping your job.
