Google Employees Write Open Letter To CEO Sundar Pichai On Layoff, Ask for Better Treatment Of Staff: Report

More than 1,400 employees of Google-parent Alphabet Inc. signed a petition making a series of demands of the company for the better treatment of staff during the layoff process, reported Bloomberg on Saturday. In the open letter addressed to Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai, workers demanded that the company freezes new hirings, ask employees for voluntary redundancies before compulsory ones, give priority to laid-off workers for job vacancies, and let workers finish scheduled periods of paid time off. Provide extra support to these and workers at risk of residence permit loss: help with job searches—internal and external—and provide adequate gardening leave,” the letter added. Workers given notice will be notified in-person and will be given the opportunity to say goodbye to their coworkers.” The workers also called on Alphabet to avoid terminating employees from countries with active conflicts or humanitarian crises, such as Ukraine and provide extra support to those at risk of losing their visa-linked residency along with their jobs.