Google layoffs: Sundar Pichai hints at more ‘tough choices’ in 2024

Tech behemoth Google Inc. is set to announce more layoffs across several departments in the year 2024, though these may not be at the scale of last year's reductions.

Google chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai, in an internal memo, reportedly said the California-based tech major will make some "tough choices" in the wake of its "ambitious goals" in 2024, which not only demand re-routing resources towards big projects but also laying off employees and reorganisation across teams.

However, Pichai has reportedly assured the year 2024 will not see the layoffs of the scale seen in 2023 when Google had fired around 12,000 employees around the same time.

It is believed that members of several teams, including those from advertising sales and customer solutions, have already been informed, though clarity on the exact number of employees affected by the current decision is yet to come.

Google had slashed 6% of its total workforce or around 12,000 jobs globally in January 2023, which impacted engineering, product, and corporate and recruiting vertical teams. At that time, Pichai had said the company had undertaken a "rigorous" review across product areas and functions to make sure employees and roles were aligned with its highest priorities.

The layoffs also reflected Google's sharpened focus on advancing technologies like AI, an area where Google emerged as a frontrunner, along with rivals like Microsoft.

The year 2023 saw most of the big IT companies letting go of a huge number of employees amid a slow global demand and changing dynamics due to wars. Microsoft had slashed 10,000 jobs — about 5% of its workforce in 2023.

Jeff Bezos-led Amazon laid off over 18,000 workers. A majority of role eliminations were in Amazon Stores and People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organisations.

Social media behemoth Meta sacked sacked 11,000 employees in 2022, which was about 13% of its workforce. In March 2023, it had slashed around 10,000 jobs. They were the largest layoffs in its 18-year history after a dramatic slowdown in Meta's revenue in 2022. In May 2023, Meta Platforms again cut its workforce across ad sales, marketing, and partnership departments.

Microblogging platform Twitter, now known as X, had slashed 50% of its workforce as the company embraced a complete shift in strategy under Tesla CEO Elon Musk's leadership. Similarly, telecom major Vodafone had trimmed 11,000 jobs as the Berkshire-based company aimed to become “leaner and simpler.”