Google CEO Sundar Pichai fires over 400 employees in India over email: 5 things to know

Several Google employees suggested (on LinkedIn) that the company sent an email to impacted employees last night. As per reports, over 400 employees in India have been given the pink slip.

By Sneha Saha: Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced cutting thousands of jobs last month. Pichai, back then, clearly mentioned that layoffs would first happen in the United States followed by other markets. Now, as per several LinkedIn posts by Google employees, it is confirmed that the tech giant is conducting layoffs in India now. Here are a few things you would want to know about Google layoffs in India.

--Several Google employees suggested (on LinkedIn) that the company sent an email to impacted employees last night. As per reports, over 400 employees in India have been given the pink slip.

--Currently, there’s no clarity on the severance package that the impacted Google India employees will get. In the US, Google announced to pay employees during the full notification period (minimum 60 days), offer a severance package starting at 16 weeks' salary plus two weeks for every additional year at Google, accelerate at least 16 weeks of GSU vesting, pay 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time, and 6 months of healthcare, job placement services, and immigration support. It is believed that, in India as well, the company will offer a similar severance package and benefits. Notably, neither Google nor any of the employees have revealed details of severance for Indian employees.

--At the time of announcing the layoffs initially, Pichai clarified that those employees who scored lowest in the performance evaluation process were impacted. However, employees believed it is the other way round and said that layoffs were random. The Google CEO later clarified again that layoffs were not random.

--Pichai took full responsibility for the layoffs and blamed the macroeconomic conditions. He also said that the company overhired during the pandemic. "Over the past two years, we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today," Pichai wrote in the email he sent to Googlers last month.

--Meanwhile, several Google India employees have taken to LinkedIn to reveal that they are disappointed in the way the layoffs have happened. Many mentioned that the company sent the layoff email to impacted employees last night. In fact, some reports suggest that the Google CEO has taken full responsibility for the layoffs in the same email.

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