Google layoffs: Over 1,800 employees hit in California alone

Google has cut over 1,800 jobs in the home state of California in the biggest round of layoffs in the company’s history. On Friday, Google announced it was cutting 12,000 jobs, roughly 6 percent of the full-time workforce. According to filings released by the state, about 1,845 positions, or 15 percent of the cuts, were in California, CNBC reported.

Most of the job cuts in the state occurred in and around the company’s headquarters. About 1,436 jobs were cut in Mountain View, where Google is based, and 119 were in San Bruno, home to YouTube, while Palo Alto saw 53 job cuts.

Over a quarter of the Bay Area roles affected had “director” or “senior” in the titles and the cuts also included 27 in-house massage therapists. About 24 of the therapists were in Mountain View and three were in the Southern California markets of Los Angeles and Irvine.

In LA, about 177 cuts took place mostly from the company’s Playa Vista campus and there were 60 job cuts in Irvine.

As per the filings dated January 20, the employee separations at the facilities resulting from this action are expected to commence from March 31.

A Google spokesperson told CNBC that the March date is stated is due to a mandated notification period in California.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) forces employers to give impacted employees as well as state and local representatives at least 60 days written advance notice of any closing or mass layoff.

As per Google’s initial announcement, the company would pay US employees “during the full notification period (minimum 60 days).”

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Alphabet is struggling with slowing growth and recession risks as the tech market adjusts to the end of an extended bull market. CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the layoffs while taking questions from employees, who expressed concerns about the future at a companywide meeting on Monday.

Pichai told employees layoffs were made in a bid to act decisively amid a slowdown in the company’s growth.

“If you don't act clearly and decisively and early, we can compound the problem and make it much worse,” Pichai said as per a Bloomberg report.

Pichai added that he had consulted with the company's founders before deciding on the 6 percent job cuts.