LAST UPDATE | 20 Jan 2023

GOOGLE’S PARENT COMPANY Alphabet plans to cut around 12,000 jobs, which is more than 6% of its global workforce.

Google’s European Headquarters are located in the Dublin Docklands and it directly employs over 4,000 people in Ireland, and around 4,000 contract workers. 

While it is not yet known how this could affect employees in Ireland, Alphabet said it will “support employees [outside of the US] in line with local practices”.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai issued details of the lay offs in an internal email today.

“We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles,” Pichai said in an email to employees, adding the cuts were in response to “a different economic reality than the one we face today”.

“We’ve undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company,” Pichai wrote.

“The roles we’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review.

“The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”

The Journal approached Google Ireland for comment, and was provided with the email which Pichai had sent to staff detailing the job losses. 

Meanwhile, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney said that he will be meeting with the Head of Google Ireland next week to “clarify impact here”.

Minister Coveney added: “Despite global Tech cuts, its important to remember how strong the sector remains in Ireland.”

He also said that Ireland is “in a strong place and will support workers impacted”. 

Alphabet becomes the latest tech giant to announce lay-offs.

This week, Microsoft said it will layoff 10,000 employees in the coming months and in November, Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) announced that it will reduce its workforce by 13%, resulting in the loss of 11,000 jobs globally.

Lyft, Stripe, and Twitter also cut staff last year .