Staff tell Google boss to do layoffs more humanely…
In an open letter to Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, 1,400 ‘Googlers’ have demanded that all layoffs be handled more compassionately, with demands including freezing new hiring, seeking voluntary redundancies before compulsory ones, giving priority to laid off workers for job vacancies and letting workers finish scheduled periods of paid time off, such as parental and bereavement leave. Other demands include protecting co-workers in countries with “active or humanitarian crises – such as Ukraine/Russia,” and not terminating people’s employment “when it would adversely affect visas, which could require workers to return to unsafe or unstable countries.” In an interesting reaction to so-called ‘Zoom-firings’, the letter also requests that workers be told about any job losses “in-person” and “will be given the opportunity to say good-bye to their co-workers.” Said the letter: “Our company has long touted its commitment to doing right by its users and workers, and these commitments will show Alphabet adhering to the final line of its Code of Conduct: Don’t Be Evil.” The letter follows an earlier announcement by Google that it was cutting 6% of its staff.