Islamabad, Dec 14: Google employees are expressing concerns about potential layoffs in early 2025, spurred by claims on internal message boards that the company has increased its target for dismissals of low-performing employees.
Unverified posts suggest that Google has raised the threshold for its “lower buckets” of underperformers from 8% to 10%. This comes despite reports of productivity growth among Google engineers, who now average 500 code changes annually.
Concerns about layoffs are compounded by speculation that being classified as a low performer may not be the only criterion for termination. Employees working on underperforming projects or flagged by management for other reasons may also be at risk. Some employees are anxious about the claims, while others compare the situation to layoffs at companies like Amazon and Capital One, where similar strategies are rumored to be in place.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, recently reported strong third-quarter earnings, surpassing expectations for revenue and search advertising growth. However, the $13.72 billion spent on traffic acquisition costs (TAC) exceeded projections, leading to discussions about possible cost-cutting measures. During the earnings call, Alphabet’s new CFO, Anat Ashkenazi, mentioned plans to streamline operations using AI, further fueling employee anxiety. These remarks, along with layoffs in 2023 that sparked backlash, have amplified fears within the workforce.
Google is also facing regulatory challenges regarding its search engine dominance and is proceeding cautiously in the AI sector, where competitors like NVIDIA lead the field. At an all-hands meeting in November, Google’s vice president of recruiting, Brian Ong, acknowledged a reduction in hiring compared to previous years, adding to employee concerns about job security as the company navigates these pressures, reflecting broader uncertainties within the tech industry.
