- Google announced layoffs of about 12,000 employees late last week.
- On Monday, the company held an all-hands meeting with staff to discuss the job cuts.
- Insider obtained a recording of the meeting. Here’s what happened.
Google held a townhall meeting with employees on Monday to discuss the company’s plan to lay off 12,000 staff, the biggest job cuts in the company’s 25-year history.
The internet giant is still wildly profitable and has more than $100 billion cash, along with a reputation for high pay, lavish perks, and job security. So the news, which arrived internally via an abrupt email on Friday, hit many employees hard.
Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Twitter have also slashed thousands of jobs in recent months. Last week, more than 40,000 layoffs were either announced or begun across the tech industry. Google held out longer than most rivals and, in many ways, it has more to lose. The company thrived over the years by being seen as a great place to work. That helped it recruit the best engineers and other tech specialists. If these layoffs undermine this reputation, Google may struggle to compete for talent in the future.
Insider obtained recordings of the Google all-hands meeting, along with screenshots of employee comments, questions, and other reactions. Here’s what happened.
Employees want ‘psychological safety’
The overriding sentiment was shock from being suddenly exposed to the vicissitudes of working at a public company during a downturn. Two employees asked for “psychological safety” at work and said the job cuts, and how they were conducted, have threatened this sense of stability.
Executives, including CEO Sundar Pichai, responded with a mixture of empathy, support, resources, facts, and counter-arguments.
“If you interpret psychological safety as removing all uncertainty, we can’t do this,” said Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer.
Source: I N S I D E R
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