The term “you’re fired” is no longer an option for the safe-space dwellers with an electronic pink slip from Alphabet-owned Google. Last Friday, the tech giant announced there would be a huge “employee separation” by the end of March 2023 to 12,000 positions held by all sorts of qualified people, like massage therapists. Yes, it was once the dream job. Now it’s causing those not fired to demand “psychological safety.” It’s a term used in many of Google’s teams’ building efforts.
In the Google guide to team effectiveness, psychological safety “refers to an individual’s perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk” and yet safe “of being seen as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive.”
[substack align=”right”]A good chunk of workers – 1,845, or 15% of the cuts, to be precise – was in California near Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters. As CEO Sundar Pichai spoke with employees: “I understand you are worried about what comes next for your work.” Yes, yes, they are, and some are flat-out hysterical.
Now that they understand that Google is a capitalist-run company that needs to keep investors and big kahunas happier than those behind the slushie counter, will employees be able to continue to do their jobs?
Google Destroys Psychological Safety
Pichai and the big bosses held a Townhall with all remaining staff members to take the edge off those not whacked. It was disclosed that even the highest-paid top-ranked people would significantly lose a large portion of yearly bonuses. Most lower-end folks didn’t much care about the mega-money makers, and one employee asked: “How can we reestablish psychological safety for Googlers after these layoffs?”
(Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Google’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, responded: “If you interpret psychological safety as removing all uncertainty, we can’t do this.”
What seemed to terrify employees the most was that established hires and super-performers were axed along with the massage therapists. Jeremy Joslin tweeted his departure: “It’s hard for me to believe that after 20 years at Google, I unexpectedly find out about my last day via an email. What a slap in the face.”
And more callous stories smattered across LinkedIn and other social media sites. Dan Russell, a research scientist, was also unpleasantly surprised. “I found out when I went to work at 4 AM to finish up an important analysis, and my badge didn’t work. After 17.5 years at Google, it was kind of a tough way to discover that I’d become a Xoogler.” One laid-off engineer said, “employees are 100% disposable.” And he is correct. Carolina Milanesi, a consumer tech analyst, spoke on the layoffs, “At the end of the day, people are, to some extent, dispensable, whereas you cannot cut in your Research and Development.”
But wherever will these “separated” pampered progressives go for psychological safety and a good chair massage?
Tech Is Not Dead – Just Regrouping
Even AI pioneers could not predict that the last two years would see skyrocketing inflation and soaring interest rates. Times are tough, and the “belt-tightening is meant to send a message to shareholders at a time when tech companies have seen their stock prices plunge,” commented Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst at Guidehouse Insights. He continued:
“What they’re saying is, ‘we are being prudent. We want to get back on a growth path. We don’t want to continue to spend money needlessly.’ That said, when you’re still as profitable as these companies are, saying you’re spending money needlessly seems like a little bit of a specious argument.”
In the last few months, Twitter, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon have laid off or announced they would fire more than 40,000 people. Google held out much longer than any other tech giant. Well, the axe had to fall somewhere. But all is not lost. ZipRecruiter conducted a survey finding that eight out of ten techies who lose their jobs are employed within 90 days. Some are even more fortunate: 40% find new tech jobs in a month or less.
Pichai defended his decisions and his past direction of Google in the PTSD-inducing memorandum:
“All this work is a continuation of the ‘healthy disregard for the impossible’ that’s been core to our culture from the beginning. When I look around Google today, I see that same spirit and energy driving our efforts. That’s why I remain optimistic about our ability to deliver on our mission, even on our toughest days.”
As one stunned employee asked: “Should I keep working superhard? Does it matter?” Well, yeah, there is this thing that used to be applied to every job: work ethic. No one owes you anything. You earn it. Googlers are learning that their bosses have to answer to a higher authority and in today’s economy, having a job is a blessing.
