Why is Google laying off staff

Google has recently announced that it is laying off hundreds of employees across its hardware, engineering, and Assistant divisions as part of its cost-cutting measures.

The layoffs affect the teams that produce Google’s Pixel, Nest, Fitbit, and augmented reality devices. Google also said it would deprecate 17 ‘underutilized’ features of Google Assistant.

The company said the layoffs reflect the result of a ‘rigorous review’ of its operations and the need to ‘responsibly invest in its biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead’.

Moreover, some Google employees and union members have expressed their dissatisfaction and frustration with the layoffs, calling them ‘needless’ and ‘impersonal’. Google is not the only tech company that has cut its workforce in 2024.

OpporTechies gathered that other companies, such as Amazon, Meta, Spotify, and Twitch, have also announced layoffs to start off the year.