Google has fired 12,000 employees, including 31 massage therapists.
The California-based enterprise is known for its generous staff perks. The company gave employees free massages based on their performance.
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet, told staff that he took “full responsibility” for the recent layoffs. They are part of major cost-cutting measures that have been seen at many tech companies.
Close to 60,000 people have lost their jobs just this year in 174 tech companies, according to Fortune.
In an email to his staff last Friday, Pichai wrote that the sackings “weigh heavily” on him, Business Insider reported. He said the lay-offs were necessary to prevent “much worse issues”, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Pichai’s own shares, investments and salary stand at a staggering $1.31-billion, which is around R23 billion.
Google isn’t the only tech titan trimming its perks.
Late last year, Meta (formerly Facebook) cut tens of thousands of jobs. They also reduced health and wellness benefits by R20,000 and removed free on-site laundry.
Twitter, which has laid off thousands of workers since Elon Musk took over in October, has stopped paying for home internet and WiFi, training and development programmes and for Camp Twitter, a company-wide group event.
Compiled by Mashudu Mabila
Pictured above: Google employees getting a massage
Image source: Flickr
