Google Layoffs in the Thousands with More to Come This Week

Written on 24th November 2008                                                                                                              8 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.

According to various sources, since August, hundreds of employees have been forced to leave their jobs from Google with a further 1000+ to be laid off this week.

By law, Google is required to report layoffs publicly as well as to the SEC however, Google has managed to get around the legal requirement by classifying a number of the employees as “temporary operational expenses”.

By doing so, Google is able to hire full time employees without full time benefits such as health coverage and insurance. Also, the company is then able to boost it’s standing on Wall Street by giving the impression that Google is producing far more per employee that it actually is. All this naturally increases shareholder satisfaction and consequently ensures share prices remain high.

Supposedly, Google has a number of sneaky tactics used to get around the SEC requirements. One of the methods according to WebGuild is by moving workers from job to job every few months so that their status remains temporary. In their own words, “that is why you probably have never spoken to the same person twice at Google and that is also why there is somebody new on the job and most times you know more about their job than they do.”

Given the size of the company, the number of lawyers involved and the number of staff supposedly laid off, it is difficult to be certain as to the credibility of the claims. However, undoubtedly Google has taken a hit and in some respects this is hardly surprising considering stock price is currently at 40% of its year-ago high.

via Webguild and F*Startups.com