In a move that has raised eyebrows, Google has confirmed layoffs across key teams such as Flutter, Dart, and Python ahead of its annual I/O developer conference. The company has, however, not revealed the specific teams, roles, or number of employees affected.
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A day after Google reportedly fired its entire Python team, the search giant confirms that several staff members have been fired from different teams. The company has laid off staff from several key teams including Flutter, Dart, and Python, as per the posts shared by affected employees. According to a report by TechCrunch, Google confirmed these layoffs. However, the company didn’t specify the teams, roles, or number of employees affected.
According to the report, Google spokesperson Alex García-Kummert claimed that the layoffs were part of the company’s strategy to invest responsibly in their biggest priorities and significant opportunities ahead.
He added, “To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023 and into 2024, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, remove layers, and align their resources to their biggest product priorities. Through this, we’re simplifying our structures to give employees more opportunity to work on our most innovative and important advances and our biggest company priorities, while reducing bureaucracy and layers.”
Google clarified that the layoffs were not company-wide but were reorganisations that are part of the normal course of business. Affected employees will have the opportunity to apply for other open roles at Google.
Despite the layoffs, projects like Flutter and Dart are still on track. However, it has affected many teams and resulted in the loss of personnel on significant projects. In the Python domain, the layoffs impacted the team responsible for internal runtimes and toolchain management.
The changes have stirred a mix of emotions among affected employees, who have expressed their experiences and sadness over the layoffs on platforms like Hacker News and Reddit.
In compliance with the California WARN Act, Google has filed a notice indicating the layoff of 50 employees across three locations in Sunnyvale. Google has reassured that it will support all affected employees by providing opportunities to apply for other roles within the company, access to outplacement services, and severance packages.
