Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., has initiated significant layoffs affecting hundreds of employees within its digital assistant, hardware, and engineering divisions, as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to streamline operations and reduce costs.
The job cuts impact various teams, including those dedicated to the voice-based Google Assistant and the augmented reality hardware segment. Employees in the central engineering organization have also been affected by the restructuring, according to a statement from the company.
A Google spokesperson explained, “Throughout the second half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, and to align their resources to their biggest product priorities. Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally.”
Initial reports of the layoffs surfaced with Semafor disclosing the impact on the Google Assistant team, while 9to5Google highlighted the reorganization within the hardware team. The affected employees have been informed of the developments and will be given the opportunity to apply for available positions elsewhere within Google.
The Alphabet Workers Union, representing a portion of Google’s workforce, expressed dissatisfaction with the job cuts in a statement posted on the social network X (formerly Twitter). The union criticized the company, stating, “Our members and teammates work hard every day to build great products for our users, and the company cannot continue to fire our coworkers while making billions every quarter. We won’t stop fighting until our jobs are safe!”