1.5 percent of Google layoffs were massage therapists

Some 27 massage therapists who worked for Google lost their jobs as part of the largest round of layoffs in the company’s history.

Google cut more than 1,800 workers in California, about 1.5 percent of whom were on-site massage therapists who provided services to staff as rewards for good work.

These initial layoffs came on the same day that the CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, announced they were cutting 12,000 employees, about 6 percent of their workforce.

Of the initial 1,845 cuts, 1,436 affected workers at the company’s Mountain View headquarters, while another 119 were in San Bruno, where Google-owned YouTube is headquartered.

A total of 177 occurred in Los Angeles, mostly at the company’s Playa Vista campus, and another 60 in Irvine. Its Palo Alto office also experienced 53 outages, according to CNBC.

Two dozen massage therapists had been working in Mountain View, and another three were in Los Angeles and Irvine.

The CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, announced that he would cut 12,000 employees in total, about 6 percent of his workforce.

Google and other California tech companies such as Amazon and Meta are known for having offbeat campuses that offer quirky employee benefits like juice bars and spas.

Google staff were known to be rewarded for good work with “massage credits,” which could be used to redeem massages from therapists on campus.

‘As a company of almost 25 years, we are forced to go through difficult economic cycles. These are important times to sharpen our focus, redesign our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our top priorities,” Pichai said.

Staff at Google’s California facilities are expected to leave their jobs in March, in accordance with state law that gives workers a minimum 60-day notice period.

This round of layoffs at Google is part of a swath that has hit the entire tech industry and comes just days after rival Microsoft said it would lay off 10,000 workers and Amazon began laying off 18,000.

Of the initial 1,845 cuts in California, 1,436 affected workers at the company’s Mountain View headquarters

News of the layoffs was particularly dramatic for Microsoft, which said it would incur a $1.2 billion restructuring charge as a result. The company said it was forced to do so due to “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.”

In a memo to employees, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the layoffs, which would affect nearly 5 percent of its workforce, would start immediately and end at the end of March.

“We are also seeing organizations across industries and geographies exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts anticipate one,” he said.

Last week, thousands of Amazon workers woke up to a brutal email from their employer informing them that their position had been ‘removed’ effective immediately.

Shortly after the Seattle-based company sent the emails, many employees’ access to work computers and offices was also cut off. Business Insider revealed.

The job losses occur during a period of economic uncertainty. For the tech sector, the pandemic boom morphed into a post-pandemic bust as rising interest rates hit stock prices and inflation cut into profits. Adding to the economic pressures were the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At just seven big tech companies, job cuts announced in recent months total nearly 70,000: Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, HP and Twitter.

These cuts also come as companies like Google and Microsoft have invested heavily in artificial intelligence.

Pichai said in his note announcing the Google cuts: “I am confident of the tremendous opportunity in front of us thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI.”

Nadella echoed a similar sentiment in his memo to Microsoft staff. “The next big wave of computing is being born with advances in AI, as we are turning the world’s most advanced models into a new computing platform,” she said.

These tech layoffs represent a shift in the job market and an increased demand for blue-collar workers.

Walmart announced on Tuesday that it would raise its minimum wage for all employees from $12 to $14 an hour, while music streaming platform Spotify last week laid off 588 of its 9,800 employees as advertisers cut spending.