Google offers a voluntary release program for American employees working in its organization of platforms and devices, which oversees key products, especially Android, Pixel, Chromiumand nest. The announcement came by an internal note from the main vice-president Rick Osterlohas indicated for the first time by 9TO5GOOGLE.
The program offers compensation packages to employees who choose to leave the division, after last year’s merger of the hardware and software teams of Google. “Leave the company voluntarily a starting allowance,” said a Google spokesperson.
The voluntary output option affects teams working on Android (including Auto, TV, Wear OS and XR), Chrome, Chromeos, Google Photos, Google One, Pixel, Fitbit and Nest. The program is specifically limited to American employees within the Platforms & Devices group.
According to the company, the decision comes in response to the organizational restructuring of last year. “This occurs after we have gathered two major organizations last year,” said the spokesman, adding that “there is a huge momentum in this team and with such important work to come, we want everything The world is deeply engaged in our mission and focuses on the construction of large products, with speed and efficiency.
This decision follows a period of significant changes to Google, including the April 2023 merger which brought the Android and Chrome teams with the material division under the direction of Osterloh. This reorganization was intended to help the business more effectively integrate the features of the AI between its products.
The announcement has raised concerns among certain employees concerning future potential layoffs, in particular given the recent history of the reduction in the workforce of Google. The company had already been criticized not to offer voluntary exit options before previous layoffs, which included 12,000 workers in 2023, followed by several cuts cycles in 2024.
