Google is laying off hundreds of people across its global recruiting team as hiring at the tech giant continues to slow. The company declined to cite what percentage of its recruiting workforce was impacted, but said that it plans to retain a significant majority, Semafor reported.
“The volume of requests for our recruiters has gone down,” Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement. “In order to continue our important work to ensure we operate efficiently, we’ve made the hard decision to reduce the size of our recruiting team. We’re supporting everyone impacted with a transition period, outplacement services, and severance as they look for new opportunities here at Google”, Semafor reported.
CNN reported that Google confirmed it will lay off hundreds of staff members who helped recruit and hire employees, as Silicon Valley continues its cost-cutting efforts.
The latest cuts come after Google parent Alphabet in January eliminated 12,000 jobs, or about 6% of the workforce, across the company as it grappled with economic uncertainty that hit the company’s bottom line last year, especially its core advertising business.
During Google’s July earning call, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company was continuing to slow its “expense growth and pace of hiring”.
According to CNN, the cuts will affect a few hundred members of Google’s recruiting organization globally; most of the team will remain and continue hiring for critical roles such as top engineering talent, according to Google. The company did not specify the exact number of layoffs in the department.
Google also said the recruiting cuts are not part of any wider layoffs, and that affected employees will be supported with severance offers and other benefits.
CNBC also reported that Google is cutting hundreds of jobs in its global recruiting organization as part of a broader pullback in hiring over the next several quarters.
“We unfortunately need to make a significant reduction to the size of the recruiting organization,” Brian Ong, Google’s recruiting vice president, told employees in a Wednesday video meeting, a recording of which was obtained by CNBC.
“It’s not something that was an easy decision to make, and it definitely isn’t a conversation any of us wanted to have again this year,” Ong said. “Given the base of hiring that we’ve received the next several quarters, it’s the right thing to do overall.
Employees involved in the recruiting group reductions will receive emails starting Wednesday, Ong said.
In my opinion, when a large corporation suddenly chooses to fire hundreds of the people who helped them to recruit workers – something has gone terribly wrong. It indicates that Google is struggling. Less recruitment means the company will have difficulty if and when it decides to start hiring again.