'Ongoing rounds of layoffs make us feel insecure about our jobs': reports
Google employees in the US and Canada are circulating a petition expressing concerns about their jobs amid anticipated cost cuts this year, according to reports.
The petition, as reported by CNBC, has so far gathered more than 1,250 employee signatures.
"We, the undersigned Google workers from offices across the US and Canada, are concerned about instability at Google that impacts our ability to do high-quality, impactful work," the petition read, as quoted by the news outlet.
"Ongoing rounds of layoffs make us feel insecure about our jobs. The company is clearly in a strong financial position, making the loss of so many valuable colleagues without explanation hurt even more."
The petition comes in the wake of the organisation's further focus on cost-cutting, as mentioned by Google chief financial officer Anat Ashkenazi in October.
"There's really good work that was done, started by Ruth (Porat), Sundar (Pichai) and the rest of the lead team to re-engineer the cost base," Ashkenazi told employees in an earnings call last year.
"But I think any organisation can always push a little further and I'll be looking at additional opportunities."
Brian Ong, vice president of Google recruiting, later noted that there was a "reality" to Ashkenazi's remarks.
"We are hiring less than we did a couple of years ago," Ong said in a later call.
Google also laid off 12,000 employees in 2023, which was followed by smaller-scale job cuts in 2024.
In January last year, around a thousand employees in its core engineering and Google Assistant teams, The Verge reported. This was followed by an announcement from CEO Pichai that they laid off 10% of its manager, director, and VP roles as part of an efficiency move.