Google employees fear new round of layoffs, petition company

Google workers from US and Canada circulated an internal petition to express their concerns about layoffs.

Google employees from the U.S. and Canada have signed an internal petition that voiced their fears about repeated rounds of job layoffs, as well as their demands for better severance terms.

More than 1,250 employees signed, per CNBC.

The petition stated that workers from both countries were worried about “instability” at Google. They claimed these conditions as well as low performance reviews, the lack of buyouts for exiting employees, and uncertain severance terms affected their ability “to do high quality, impactful work.”

“Ongoing rounds of layoffs make us feel insecure about our jobs. The company is clearly in a strong financial position, making the loss of so many valuable colleagues without explanation hurt even more,” said the petition, titled ‘Googlers for Job Security.’

Employees who signed the petition were concerned about their severance terms differing from what former Google employees received in January 2023 when they were laid off.

The petition was credited to the Alphabet Workers Union and addressed CEO Sundar Pichai directly. Those who signed the petition also jointly criticised Google’s performance review system, which they claimed did not always take individual merit into account.

The petition requested a response to workers’ demands within two weeks of its delivery.