Google is staring down a possible revolt amongst its staff over cloud layoffs impacting hundreds of Google Cloud employees.
Google Cloud is the third largest cloud provider and is working hard to take market share away from AWS and Microsoft Azure. Despite its plans for future growth, the company announced layoffs on March 2 that impact at least 100, and possibly several hundred, individuals.
According to Business Insider, the move has not gone over well with employees, including ones completely unaffected by the decision. Googlers have expressed their concern for their colleagues, especially those whose visas are tied to their employment at Google, believing they are not being given enough time to find and transition to new jobs.
“Many Googlers have visas tied to their employment,” reads a petition signed by 1,400 employees. “Successful transfers take more time due to added mobility delays from governments’ and Google’s immigration processes.”
Employee dissatisfaction with the company’s decision has already spilled out in at least two company town hall meetings. Some employees said the handling of the layoffs did “not show Googleness from senior management.”
“Several hundred roles for Cloud Support Roles including TSEs were eliminated on March 2nd,” one employee wrote on Google’s internal question submission platform, used for large meetings, as viewed by Insider. “Without getting into the complete opaqueness of internal planning and messaging, isn’t this antithetical to Cloud’s push into Enterprise?”
The news comes on the heels of reports that employees are increasingly becoming unhappy with their compensation, outrage over the company’s plans to pay some workers less, and a slew of HR missteps over the last couple of years.
