In what will come as a massive blow to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has confirmed that more layoffs are in the offing. According to a report by The Verge, Pichai sent a memo — titled “2024 priorities and the year ahead”— to all employees where he said Google has tough choices to make. “We have ambitious goals and will be investing in our big priorities this year,” wrote the Google CEO, before adding “the reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices.”
These “tough choices” are eliminating many jobs.However, Pichai didn’t confirm how many jobs will be cut though he made it clear that it won’t be as many as last year. In 2023, Google cut 12,000 jobs in one go and almost every team was impacted. “These role eliminations are not at the scale of last year’s reductions, and will not touch every team,” Pichai told employees in the memo.
According to The Verge, Pichai said that the layoffs will be done to remove “layers to simplify execution and drive velocity in some areas.”He further told employees, “Many of these changes are already announced, though to be upfront, some teams will continue to make specific resource allocation decisions throughout the year where needed, and some roles may be impacted,” he wrote.
Earlier this month, Google has laid off employees from various teams, including the AR/VR division and ad sales division. While Pichai didn’t confirm the timeline, it is evident by his memo that Google could keep laying off employees throughout the year.
Last year, when Google announced job cuts, it was followed by reduction of perks for employees. It’s not clear whether that will be the case in 2024 as well.