In latest rejig, Google to shift some jobs to India

Alphabet-owned Google may shift some roles to India after it sacked an unspecified number of employees in the United States, marking the latest cuts at the technology giant as it cracks down on costs.

A Google spokesperson said the layoffs are not company-wide and that affected employees will be able to apply for internal roles. The company, however, did not specify the number of employees impacted nor the teams involved.

A small percentage of the impacted roles will move to hubs the company is investing in, including India, Chicago, Atlanta, and Dublin. This comes even as Google has doubled-down on India with investments and product development. During a recent visit to India, Google CEO Sundar Pichai had emphasised India’s importance to the global tech major.

Tech players like Google and Apple are seeing India as the next major market, even as it faces a slowdown in the US.

Job cuts

The layoffs follow a slew of job cuts across Google and the tech and media industry this year, adding to fears that layoffs may continue as companies grapple with economic uncertainty.

“Throughout the second half of 2023 and into 2024, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, remove layers, and align their resources to their biggest product priorities,” the spokesperson added.

Employees across several of Google’s teams in its real estate and finance departments have been affected, according to a Business Insider report on Wednesday. The finance teams affected include Google’s treasury, business services, and revenue cash operations, it added.

Layoffs have been affecting the tech industry in the years after Covid, when many extraneous bets by tech firms did not necessarily play off. With the compounding effects of AI, these layoffs are set to continue this year as well. Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned employees at the start of 2024 to expect more job cuts.

Google’s finance chief, Ruth Porat, sent an email to staff saying the restructuring includes expanding growth to Bangalore, Mexico City, and Dublin, according to the Business Insider report.

Google let go of hundreds of workers across multiple teams in January, including its engineering, hardware, and assistant teams, as the company ramped up investment and built its artificial intelligence offerings.