Google offers voluntary exit to US staff, including search and ad teams
Google offered 'buyout' packages to staff in several departments on Tuesday, in a move to reduce overall employee numbers.
According to a CNBC report, the offer has gone out to employees in units such as knowledge and information (K&I), central engineering, marketing, research, and communications. The K&I division includes key parts of Google's operations, such as search, advertising, and commerce.
This "voluntary exit programme" (VEP) is aimed at staff based in the United States. Some teams are also asking remote workers who live within 50 miles of a Google office to start coming in again. The employees are expected to continue with a hybrid form of work schedule.
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Nick Fox, head of the K&I division, sent a memo to employees explaining the programme and what is expected of employees. Last October, he took over from Prabhakar Raghavan, who is now the chief technologist at Google.
The K&I unit currently employs around 20,000 people.
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'I want to be very clear: If you're excited about your work, energised by the opportunity ahead, and performing well, I really (really!) hope you don't take this! We have ambitious plans and tons to get done,' Fox wrote in the memo, according to CNBC. 'On the other hand, this VEP offers a supportive exit path for those of you who don't feel aligned with our strategy, don't feel energised by your work, or are having difficulty meeting the expectations of your role.'
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The last time Google offered such an exit package was in January, when it made the offer to employees in the Platforms and Devices division, which includes the Pixel and Android teams. In April, the same unit saw a wave of layoffs, with hundreds of jobs cut.
More recently, in May, the company let go of 200 staff in its global business unit, which handles sales and partnerships.
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