News > A Google engineer says survivors of the mass layoffs cried in meetings the day around 12,000 of their colleagues were culled

A Google engineer says survivors of the mass layoffs cried in meetings the day around 12,000 of their colleagues were culled

On Jan 20, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, announced layoffs equating to about 6% of the company's global workforce. Pichai told remaining staff they could work from home that day to process the "difficult news." A Google engineer said that when surviving staff ask each other how they're doing, some joke they're alright because they still have their jobs. People nod to each other with a shared sense of understanding when passing each other in the office, he added.