Google Layoffs: Some fired employees may get up to Rs 2.60 crore in severance pay

Google's Irish office may offer generous severance packages worth over $320,000 (roughly Rs 2.60 crore) to some of its laid-off staff, according to a new report. The Google layoffs were announced in January as part of the company's plan to cut 12,000 jobs globally, affecting 240 workers in Ireland. 

According to a report by Sunday Times, the severance package reportedly includes six weeks of wages for every year worked at the company. While the Sunday Times did not provide specific examples, it noted that long-serving staff members could be in line for significant payouts. The report assumes that these fired employees worked with Google since they began operations in Ireland back in 2003.

During the announcement of layoffs, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote a memo to all employees, saying that the company had hired for a different economic reality than the one they face today. In the memo, Pichai said, US employees affected by the layoffs will receive a minimum of 16 weeks of severance pay with two weeks for every additional year at the company. However, in February, some laid-off workers were informed that they would receive fewer stock units as part of their severance package due to an "inaccurate calculation" by Google.

The severance packages being offered to Google's laid-off staff in Ireland are more generous than those being offered in the US. 

Google Layoffs

Google is not the only tech company that conducted layoffs. Amazon and Meta conducted two rounds of layoffs in a matter of months. The layoffs resulted in 27,000 job cuts in Amazon and 21,000 layoffs in Meta. The economic uncertainty has led to further layoffs in the tech industry and related sectors including media, social media, banking and more. 

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