Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google, has told employees in the US they will be allowed to keep some of their employee benefits as they cut 12,000 jobs worldwide.
As part of their severance package, US staff will be given 16 weeks’ pay as well as two weeks for every additional year of service, their bonus and remaining paid annual leave for 2022, job placement services and immigration support for those affected, and healthcare for six months.
The redundancies, announced just days after Microsoft declared its plans to axe 10,000 jobs and a matter of weeks after Amazon revealed it would be cutting 18,000 positions, will impact 6% of Alphabet’s global workforce.
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s chief executive, shared the “difficult news” in an email to the workforce that was also posted as a blog on the company’s website. He wrote that in the past two years the business had recruited for “periods of dramatic growth”, however that was a “different economic reality than the one we face today”.
He said: “To the Googlers who are leaving us: Thank you for working so hard to help people and businesses everywhere. Your contributions have been invaluable and we are grateful for them.
“While this transition won’t be easy, we’re going to support employees as they look for their next opportunity.”
Google currently has more than 5,500 employees in the UK, but at the moment whether or not they will be affected by the cuts remains unclear.
According to the company, employees made redundant who are outside the US will be support “in line with local practices”.
