AP
- Some Google employees in Canada found out on Monday they were laid off, per reports.
- A laid-off employee said it felt "as harsh as being fired." Another called it a "sad reality."
- The layoffs in Canada come as part of the 12,000 global job cuts Sundar Pichai recently announced.
Google on Monday informed some employees in Canada they were laid off as part of the company's plan to cut around 12,000 jobs, per multiple reports.
A Google spokesperson told The Canadian Press that the company was sending employment notices to affected workers. They couldn't confirm how many Canadian employees were laid off or which departments were impacted the most, per the report.
The layoffs in Canada come two and a half weeks after CEO Sundar Pichai announced Google was cutting around 12,000 positions from its global workforce. Laid-off employees in the US found out their fate soon after the announcement.
Pichai told staff in a memo he took "full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."
Some people posted on LinkedIn about losing their job at Google in Canada.
Michael Landry, a software engineer, said in a LinkedIn post he "woke up to the sad reality" that his time at Google was over after more than 10 years. He said after nine years of working on the Gmail team, he went to work on the Stadia team. He had "no regrets" about doing so although it was a "short-lived adventure."
Timothy Cruickshank, a designer who was laid off from Google, said in a LinkedIn post on Monday it felt "as harsh as being fired."
Another laid-off worker, Sara Gholami, posted on LinkedIn and shared a picture of her Google badge. "Today I am among the 12K employees impacted by layoffs at Google Canada. This change marks a difficult moment in my career journey."
Google, Cruickshank, and Gholami didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Some employees who were laid off in the US previously told Insider were notified through an employment notice email — some of them found out as early as 2 a.m. in the morning. They said they were locked out of their work laptops and emails, meaning they were unable to discuss why they were laid off.
The wave of Google layoffs follows similar job cuts by Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and other global tech firms.
Were you laid off from Google? What are your next steps? Get in touch with this reporter by email kduffy@insider.com, kate.duffy01@protonmail.com or Twitter DM. She also has Signal.