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Knowledge and information, or K&I, is the unit that houses Google’s search, ads and commerce divisions. The buyouts Tuesday are the company’s latest effort to reduce headcount, which Google has continued to do in waves since laying off 12,000 employees in 2023.
CNBC could not confirm how many employees were impacted by the latest round of buyouts. The Information reported earlier that the company offered buyouts to employees in the search and ads unit.
The “voluntary exit program” applies to U.S.-based employees, and some teams are also mandating office returns for remote workers who live within 50 miles of an office, the company confirmed. They will be expected to assume a hybrid work schedule “in order to bring folks more together in-person.”
“Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,” Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini wrote in an emailed statement to CNBC.
K&I has approximately 20,000 employees. The unit underwent a re-organization in October that resulted in Google executive Nick Fox taking over the helm. Fox sent out a memo on Tuesday saying that employees who are not meeting expectations may want to take the buyout and that those who are excited by their work and doing well to remain with the company.
“I want to be very clear: If you’re excited about your work, energized by the opportunity ahead, and performing well, I really (really!) hope you don’t take this! We have ambitious plans and tons to get done,” Fox wrote, according to the memo which was reviewed by CNBC. “On the other hand, this VEP offers a supportive exit path for those of you who don’t feel aligned with our strategy, don’t feel energized by your work, or are having difficulty meeting the expectations of your role.”
The buyouts come after finance chief Anat Ashkenazi in October said that one of her top priorities would be to drive more cost cutting as Google expands its spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2025.
Google is also overhauling a popular internal learning platform to focus on teaching employees how to use modern AI tools in their work in a shift away from some of its nice-to-have programs to more business-essential offerings, CNBC reported Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO: Nick Fox, VP of Product for Search and Assistant, speaks at a Google event on September 23, 2018 in San Francisco, California.
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Buyouts are the new layoffs
Google has done multiple buyout offers in a few units this year, making it a preferred strategy to reduce headcount.
“Platforms and Devices” — the company’s hardware unit that consists of 25,000 full-time employees working on Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Google Photos, Google One and the Pixel devices — offered full-time U.S.-based employees the option to apply for a buyout in January. “People Operations,” also known as the company’s human resources department, offered voluntary buyouts in February. Google’s legal and finance teams have also announced buyouts this year, a company spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.
As part of the People Operations buyouts, mid to senior-level employees received severances of up to 14 weeks of salary and one additional week for every full year of service.
In his Tuesday memo, Fox said he’s been “paying close attention” to the other units’ buyout offerings. Fox decided to also offer buyouts after hearing positive feedback from the other units, he wrote.
The pivot to buyouts come after Google faced backlash for laying off 6% of its workforce in January 2023. At the time, employees said their access to company systems were unexpectedly cut off. Some of them were long-time employees, stellar performers or on medical or maternity leave, CNBC reported at the time.
The broadness and abruptness of the layoff at a time when the company was still reporting stellar earnings, created a division in trust and drop in morale. Executives later acknowledged its impact on morale.
Earlier this year, some employees praised Google’s decision to offer buyouts rather than immediately laying off employees, CNBC reported at the time.
“The P&D email portends layoffs, which sucks but offering buyouts first is what we asked for, is the right thing to do,” one employee wrote in an internal forum at the time.
However, buyout announcements have often been accompanied by a demand: come back to the office. Google has demanded that some remote employees return to the office if they want to keep their jobs and avoid being part of broader cost cuts at the company, CNBC reported in April.
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