Google’s Asia-Pacific headquarters located in Singapore reportedly laid off approximately 190 employees on February 16, 2023, accounting for 5.5% to 6% of its total workforce in Singapore. The layoffs have affected various departments, including sales, Google Pay, Google Cloud, recruiting, finance, and legal, according to Channel News Asia.
Ex-Google staff members have shared their experiences on LinkedIn, where an ex-technical recruiter at Xoogler, Qierra C., shared that she received one of the heaviest emails she has ever read while watching TV with her husband. She also thanked her colleagues and the candidates for making her time at Google a memorable one. Additionally, an ex-HR operations manager at Google, Deepti Krishnan, shared that she was disconnected from a video call abruptly, and it showed an “access denied” page, leading her to find out that she had lost her job.
Also read: Google’s Stocks Plunge As Google’s New AI Chatbot Bard Fails To Impress Investors
The layoffs have come a month after Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced that it would cut 12,000 jobs, which accounts for 6% of its total workforce. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet, posted on the company’s website in January, stating that they hired for a different economic reality than the one they face today. He further added that the layoffs would impact the lives of Googlers heavily, and he takes full responsibility for the decisions that led them there.
The Bard chatbot fumble by Google led to an incorrect description of a telescope in a promotional video, leading to the plummet of Alphabet shares at over 7%. The blunder caused Alphabet to lose US$100 billion in market value and experience a decrease in stock.
The recent layoffs at Google’s Asia-Pacific HQ in Singapore have left nearly 190 employees out of work, adding to the 12,000 jobs cut by Alphabet last month. Ex-employees have shared their experiences on LinkedIn, expressing their sadness and shock at the situation. The layoffs have come as Alphabet sees its shares plummet due to a blunder with its new artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard.
