Google is shedding tons of of workers throughout its Pixel, Nest, Fitbit, and Assistant divisions, the corporate stated in a press release on Thursday. Google’s augmented actuality group was additionally hit with layoffs, in keeping with a report by 9to5Google.
“To greatest place us for these alternatives, all through the second half of 2023, numerous our groups made modifications to grow to be extra environment friendly and work higher, and to align their sources to their greatest product priorities” a Google spokesperson stated in a press release. “Some groups are persevering with to make these sorts of organizational modifications, which embrace some position eliminations globally.”
The Alphabet Employees Union, the group representing Google workers and contractors, stated the layoffs have been “useless” and accused Google of constant to “hearth our coworkers whereas making billions each quarter.” It recommitted to its purpose to guard employees.
Tonight, Google started one other spherical of useless layoffs. Our members and teammates work onerous each day to construct nice merchandise for our customers, and the corporate can’t proceed to fireside our coworkers whereas making billions each quarter. We received’t cease combating till our jobs are protected!
— Alphabet Employees Union (AWU-CWA) (@AlphabetWorkers) January 11, 2024
A few of these layoffs may very well be as a result of organizational modifications, and it is probably that affected workers might reapply for open positions at Google.
Google’s layoffs come because the tech business noticed huge firings early final 12 months. Not solely did Google lay off a big quantity of workers, so too did Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and X, the social media web site previously referred to as Twitter. There have been 263,000 individuals laid off in tech final 12 months alone, in keeping with Fortune. The explanations for the layoffs have been quite a few, with some corporations downsizing after sizing up extensively in the course of the pandemic whereas others have been seeking to prioritize different product classes.
2024 is already exhibiting that the tech layoff pattern will proceed. This month, layoffs have hit Amazon Prime Video and Amazon-owned online game streaming web site Twitch, in addition to software program developer Unity Applied sciences and Xerox. Discord, the chat platform widespread with avid gamers, additionally stated it could be shedding 170 individuals, or 17% of its workforce, earlier Thursday. Duolingo laid off 10% of its contractors, with their roles reportedly being taken over by AI.
It is not clear how a lot the rise in AI adoption might need influenced these layoffs or how customers might be affected by the modifications. However 2024 is off to a well-recognized begin for the tech business.
A report by TechCrunch says that over 1,000 workers at Google have been laid off. CNET hasn’t independently verified the report.
