Google and Amazon Fight to Lay Off Workers in Europe

The biggest tech companies in the US are now learning how difficult it is to reduce headcount in Europe, after announcing the largest rounds of layoffs in their history.

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Within months of the announcement of widespread layoffs, many US companies are able to terminate hundreds, if not thousands, of employees, and many of them have already done so. The same applies to plans for mass layoffs at tech companies in Europe, where layoffs have been stalled because of labor protections that make it almost virtually impossible to dismiss employees in some countries without first consulting employee interest groups.  

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Many thousands of tech workers have been left in limbo as a result, unsure if they will be impacted by the long-term negotiations that may drag on indefinitely. 

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As of now, Alphabet Inc. is in talks to reduce its headcount through voluntary departures in France, offering employees a generous severance package that it hopes will encourage workers to leave. People familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified because the information is not public, said they are in talks to reduce headcount. It has been reported that Amazon has been trying to entice some senior managers by dangling the prospect of earning up to one year's pay along with granting leave to departing employees so that they will be able to vest their shares and earn bonuses as a result.

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As a matter of fact, Google is currently in negotiations with works councils in both France and Germany, which have among the strongest labor laws in the EU. Works councils are employee groups that are elected by the company's employees to negotiate issues of employment and management, according to someone familiar with the matter. The law stipulates that companies have to bargain with these councils before implementing layoffs. This is a sometimes lengthy process that involves gathering information, negotiating, and possibly providing recourse if there are problems with the layoff. 

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Due to these requirements, the person said, Google's branches in Germany and France are likely to be some of the last places affected by these cuts. This is if they are affected at all.  

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Upon being contacted for comment, Google acknowledged the negotiations and added that it was not planning to lay off employees in Romania, Greece, or Austria at this time. 

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“Our team has been working carefully and individually with each country where reductions are being made to ensure that we fully adhere to the local legal requirements. These requirements vary from location to location, are complex, and require time and effort,” a Google spokesperson told Trade Algo in response to questions.

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The working council of Google's Paris office, which has around 1,600 employees, is in negotiations with the company. Negotiations are regarding the number of employees who will be included in a voluntary collective departure plan and the types of employees who will be included. People who are familiar with the process say it may be weeks before a resolution can be reached, and in the meantime, things will continue as usual. It was made clear by management, according to an employee who requested anonymity, that nobody was going to be terminated without their permission. 

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On the other hand, in the UK, where labor protections are not as strict, an estimated 500 out of 8,000 Googlers are expected to be laid off, according to Unite the Union representative Matthew Waley - a 6% redundancy rate which is in line with Google's global targets. There will be confidential severance packages negotiated with the works council that will result in a confidential severance package, but the number of departures is not up for negotiation. In reference to the ongoing bargaining process, Waley said, "They are trying to do the legal minimum," referring to what the union is already doing. 

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It is the same situation in Dublin, where unions claim that Google plans to lay off 240 employees, and in Zurich, where unions predict that approximately 200 employees will be laid off as a result of layoffs. 

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Employees of Google have recently established a cross-country works council for EU countries, which includes the UK and Switzerland. The project is expected to be operational in about six months' time and will be a powerful voice in future consultations as a collective voice. This represents "a big change" in the company's strategy, as Waley pointed out that the company will be compelled to give its employees much more notice of any reorganization in advance. There will be a European Works Council that will be made up of representatives who are Google employees who will serve a four-year term on the council. Members of the council will be able to communicate with Google management and will be based in Dublin, according to documents.

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There has not been any friction among the thousands of Google employees spread throughout the world due to the different standards of treatment, however, according to Parul Koul, executive chair of the Alphabet Workers Union and Google software engineer based in New York, “people have realized the way things happen in the US versus France and Germany is different”. 

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“The fact that things seem different in other countries is inspiring for people in the US - it is a blueprint for what people can strive for here,” they said. 

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As of now, there are more than 170,000 full-time workers in the technology sector at Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta on the continent and in the UK, and software engineers tend to earn half as much as their counterparts in the United States. 

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Some senior managers at Amazon France, which has approximately 1,500 employees working in the headquarters in Paris, were offered up to a year's pay to leave Amazon, according to a person intimately familiar with the matter. During the time of the employee's departure, they were allowed to stay on so-called "gardening leave" until May, when their Amazon shares will vest and they will be paid as bonuses. 

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There was a time when employees were offered less than a month's salary per year of work as compensation, one of the people said.

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There have been reports that Amazon's German arm has started laying off people who are still in their probationary periods as well as offering voluntary departures to those who are still on their probationary periods, according to a person familiar with the situation.

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Apparently, in Luxembourg, Amazon has offered to leave employees a month's salary for every year of service they have put in. This is with extra compensation depending on national law, according to a person familiar with the matter. As of the middle of last month, layoff offers had already begun to be made, and employees will either depart on April 1 or June 1, depending on whether or not they have chosen to participate in a two-month window for searching for a job within the company.

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There was no comment from an Amazon spokesperson on specific cases. The CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy, said in January that the company would be contacting the employees who will be affected, or the employee representative bodies, if applicable, regarding the matter.