Google’s India offices reportedly laid off around 453 employees across different departments, as per a report. The layoffs were communicated to the affected employees by Google India’s Country Head and Vice President Sanjay Gupta via an official email late at night on Thursday. It is unclear whether this is a fresh round of layoffs or part of the company’s plan to reduce its global workforce by 6%, or around 12,000 employees, as announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in January.
Pichai had taken “full responsibility for the decisions that led the company to this juncture” and stated that a “rigorous review” was conducted across product areas and functions to align people and roles with the company’s highest priorities. He also mentioned that the roles being eliminated cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels, and regions.
Interestingly, the layoff news comes a day after Google India posted various job vacancies on LinkedIn, including positions like Manager, Startup Success Team, Employee Relations Partner, Startup Success Manager, Google Cloud, Vendor Solutions Consultant, Google Cloud, Product Manager, and Database Insights across its Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Gurugram offices.
The timing of the layoffs is also notable, as they come just after Indian-origin Neal Mohan took over as the new CEO of YouTube, following the departure of its former CEO Susan Wojcicki on Thursday