In the first stage of globalization, call center and relatively low-skill roles had moved from the US to developing markets like India. In the second stage, more sophisticated roles might be moving to these markets.
Google has laid off at least 200 employees from its “Core” teams and is moving some of these roles to India and Mexico, CNBC reports. The Core unit is responsible for building the technical foundation behind the company’s flagship products and for protecting its users’ online safety. Core teams include key technical units from information technology, its Python developer team, technical infrastructure, security foundation, app platforms, core developers, and various engineering roles. At least 50 of the positions eliminated were in engineering at the company’s offices in Sunnyvale, California. In India, Google has offices in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Gurugram.
“In order to optimize for our business goals, we are expanding work to other locations, which will result in some role eliminations and proposed role eliminations,” wrote Google’s security engineering vice president Pankaj Rohatgi in an email to his team. “We intend to maintain our current global footprint while also expanding in high-growth global workforce locations so that we can operate closer to our partners and developer communities,” Asim Husain, vice president of Google Developer Ecosystem had separately told his team last week.
These layoffs had occurred right before Google had reported strong results for the latest quarter and announced its first-ever dividend. Its share had jumped 10% after its earnings report. Last year, Google had said it would be laying off 12,000 jobs. Other tech companies, including Meta and Amazon had also laid off their US employees in large numbers.
Google already has a large presence in India. The company is currently building its largest campus outside the US in Hyderabad, and is it expected to be ready in a few quarters. Google already has engineering offices in its current Hyderabad and Bengaluru locations, while its Gurugram office mainly deals with policy and sales functions. And more roles being created in India could only be a shot in the arm for Google — it will be able to save costs while being close to a billion-strong market that’s seeing a sharp jump in its internet penetration.