Google's stock up nearly 20% since Alphabet layoffs

The tech giant's stock was up nearly 20% since Alphabet Inc GOOG laid off at the beginning of 2023.

The impacted employees didn't share the same sentiment, as several exiting staff members expressed discontent with the way their jobs ended.

What happened to Alphabet's mid-January emails to company staff, noting that it planned to cut 12,000 employees immediately.

Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, said the company had been through periods of extreme growth over the last two years, but suggested that the tech firm's fortunes were changing.

Pichai said that in order to match and fuel growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.

Why It Matters: A handful of employees took to different social platforms to publicize the axing. It's hard for me to believe that after 20 years at Google I find out about my last day via an email. What a slap in the face. Jeremy Joslin, a former Google employee, said via Twitter I wish I could have said goodbye to everyone face to face.

Another employee who was cut off without an in-person notice commented on Joslin's post, saying she found out because she got an alert that her phone service would be shut off.

All my corp account stuff was locked out. Later on, I saw the email, said jina.

Joslin noted that he saw the notification jina was referencing, but he thought it was just a bug. Joslin said on LinkedIn that a little bit of compassion and personal touch can go a long way.

Justin Moore, who was a longtime Google employee, took to LinkedIn to express frustration with how Google handled the situation.

After over 16.5 years at Google, I seem to have been let go at 3 am this morning via an automated account deactivation at 3 am, as one of the lucky 12,000, Moore wrote in the post.

The rise in interest rates and inflation headwinds have forced the hand of several tech companies over the last few months. The tech giant joins Amazon, Microsoft and Meta Platforms, which have already slashed staff in recent months. They seem to be pointing out the same thing: overhiring given the economic outlook.

Portions of this story were previously published on Benzinga.