Google employees want a bit more job security.
According to CNBC, roughly 1,250 Googlers have signed a petition asking for buyouts ahead of any future layoffs, along with guaranteed severance and a promise from management not to use low performance reviews to force employees from the company.
CNBC quotes the petition in part: “We, the undersigned Google workers from offices across the US and Canada, are concerned about instability at Google that impacts our 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.”
Google has shifted its strategy to chase the burgeoning AI market even as it moves to slice costs. Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently moved to slice roughly 10 percent of its manager, director, and VP roles. That “flattening” of the company’s management structure echoes what’s happening at a number of other tech companies: in 2023, for instance, Meta reportedly asked managers to become “individual contributors” or leave the company, while Amazon announced plans late last year to reduce its ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2025.
A company with a high ratio of individual contributors to managers could, theoretically, accelerate the process of generating and developing new products. Whether or not you believe a tech giant can truly operate as nimbly as a startup, it’s clear that smaller companies try to emulate the strategies of tech giants like Meta and Amazon—meaning that middle management positions across the tech industry could face the axe. Perhaps it's a good time for managers to assess their abilities and perhaps explore specializing in a technical area.
