Dive Brief:
- Google trimmed its headcount by several hundred roles across multiple roles, the company confirmed in an email Thursday.
- The tech giant eliminated hundreds of roles across engineering, knowledge and information products, and AR hardware teams in an effort to align resources with product priorities. Semafor first reported on some of the cuts impacting the Assistant unit.
- "Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally," a Google spokesperson said in an email. "We’re continuing to support any impacted employees as they look for new roles here at Google and beyond."
Dive Insight:
Google is the latest tech provider to kick off 2024 with headcount trims.
Xerox laid off 15% of its staff as part of a restructuring effort centered around digital and IT services, the company said last week. Citrix parent company Cloud Software Group, videogame software maker Unity and instant messaging platform Discord all cut staff over the past week. Amazon groups, including Twitch, Audible and the company's Prime Video division, also announced cuts this week.
As of Jan. 12, more than 5,600 workers lost their jobs due to downsizing rounds at 37 tech companies, according to layoff aggregating site Layoffs.fyi.
The layoffs are reminiscent of the first quarter of 2023, when Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce and other major technology providers laid off several or even tens of thousands of workers, citing economic headwinds.
Despite the workforce reductions, analysts expect technology talent will continue to be in high demand in 2024, in response to broad digital aspirations across industries and enterprises. IT unemployment trailed the national averages every month in 2023, according to CompTIA data.
