A year ago, Google made major cuts to its workforce: hundreds of employees had to pack their bags, stripping the teams responsible for Assistant, Fitbit, Nest and Pixel, as well as advertising. This time, the company is opting for a gentle approach by launching a voluntary departure plan within the “platforms and devices” division.
Voluntary departures before layoffs?
These two divisions, which develop Android and Pixel devices, merged last April. A strategy that aims to integrate artificial intelligence functions more quickly into products and services. “There’s incredible momentum on this team, and with so much important work ahead, we want everyone to be fully engaged in our mission and focused on building great products quickly and efficiently,” Rick Osterloh, the organization’s CEO, said in a memo.
Such voluntary redundancy plans are sometimes a prelude to layoffs, if not enough employees want to leave the company. While Google has cut thousands of jobs in recent years, CFO Anat Ashkenazi said last October that there’s still room to cut more.
How much of an impact the redundancy plan will have on Android and Pixel smartphones is impossible to say. Those devices have clearly found their audience, but their sales numbers are very modest compared to other brands. Currently, the research and AI divisions are not affected.
Source: The Verge
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