Google CEO Sundar Pichai fires over 400 employees in India over email

Highlights:

#Google begins layoffs in India.

#CEO Sundar Pichai took full responsibility for layoffs.

#More than 400 Google India employees reportedly fired.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced cutting thousands of jobs last month. Pichai, back then, clearly mentioned that layoffs would first happen in the United States followed by other markets. Now, as per several LinkedIn posts by Google employees, it is confirmed that the tech giant is conducting layoffs in India now. Here are a few things you would want to know about Google layoffs in India.

Several Google employees suggested (on LinkedIn) that the company sent an email to impacted employees last night. As per reports, over 400 employees in India have been given the pink slip.

Currently, there’s no clarity on the severance package that the impacted Google India employees will get. In the US, Google announced to pay employees during the full notification period (minimum 60 days), offer a severance package starting at 16 weeks' salary plus two weeks for every additional year at Google, accelerate at least 16 weeks of GSU vesting, pay 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time, and 6 months of healthcare, job placement services, and immigration support. It is believed that, in India as well, the company will offer a similar severance package and benefits. Notably, neither Google nor any of the employees have revealed details of severance for Indian employees.

At the time of announcing the layoffs initially, Pichai clarified that those employees who scored lowest in the performance evaluation process were impacted. However, employees believed it is the other way round and said that layoffs were random. The Google CEO later clarified again that layoffs were not random.

Pichai took full responsibility for the layoffs and blamed the macroeconomic conditions. He also said that the company overhired during the pandemic. "Over the past two years, we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today," Pichai wrote in the email he sent to Googlers last month.

Meanwhile, several Google India employees have taken to LinkedIn to reveal that they are disappointed in the way the layoffs have happened. Many mentioned that the company sent the layoff email to impacted employees last night. In fact, some reports suggest that the Google CEO has taken full responsibility for the layoffs in the same email.

Google is not the only tech company resorting to layoffs. Amazon has planned to remove 18,000 people from its workforce, a significant jump from previous estimates of 10,000 employees. Meta has also let go off 13,000 employees. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also took full responsibility for the layoffs, claiming that the company got extremely bullish with hirings during and before the pandemic phase.

Another spice from google :

In January, Google announced its plans to lay off around 12,000 workers globally. The first round of layoffs began in the US following Sundar Pichai's public announcement. It appears that workers in the India-specific units have started receiving termination letters. A report indicates that the company has laid off roughly 450 employees from the India division. Google India's major office hubs are located in Gurugram, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Several affected members have also taken to LinkedIn to announce their abrupt departure.

A Google India staff member, Rajneesh Kumar, in a post said, "Earlier today, we received news of some highly skilled and talented colleagues being affected by the recent layoffs at Google India."

An account manager at Google India, Kamal Dave, announced, "I was a part of Google India Layoffs yesterday. At Google, my energies were focused on delivering Digital Marketing Goals for multiple industries at the top of their food chain in India as a key strategic Account Manager / Consultant."

Another affected employee, Saptak Mohanta from the Singapore office, writes that he is "gutted to lose a lot of my brilliant colleagues and friends as part of Google's layoffs in Singapore and India last night." Mohanta worked as a Programme Manager at Google.

We will likely see more posts from affected employees from India and Singapore in the coming days.

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