‘Cutthroat colleagues, meaningless work': Ex-Google employee shares how he saw the company change

For many techies, Google is the dream place to work at. The company offers various perks to its employees and is often in the limelight for its unique work culture. In 2022, it was announced that Google is among the top 3 highest paying companies despite carrying out large scale layoffs that year. The Sundar Pichai-led company announced firing thousands of employees in 2022. In 2023, Google announced another round of layoffs and since then, the company has laid off many employees in subsequent rounds.

As a result of Google layoffs, many employees across the globe lost their jobs overnight and it impacted them in various ways. One of these impacted employees took to LinkedIn recently and shared his experience. He mentioned that he worked at the company for more than a decade and saw things change right before his eyes.

Google employee on being laid off

The man wrote in his post how after being laid off from Google, he decided to give away all his “branded swag”, keeping only one item—a Patagonia duffle bag.

This particular bag held significant meaning for him, having traveled with the ex-Google employee for thousands of miles. It was part of a welcome kit for a wellbeing off-site they had organized for their previous team.

The Xoogler described how before the pandemic, he was given a budget and leadership support to create wellbeing programming for the team, an initiative that turned out to be a great success. The event fostered conversations around well-being, brought the team closer, and taught self-care skills. The man added that it was the last great team he had been a part of at Google—one with supportive colleagues, conscious leadership, and meaningful work.

How Google changed

However, a few years later, his experience at Google took a drastic turn for the worse. He found himself on the “worst team” of his career, surrounded by cutthroat colleagues, unconscious leadership, and meaningless work. He added that despite his contributions to other teams, he was denied spot bonuses and eventually told by their new boss that focusing on wellbeing and mindfulness was no longer allowed. This once-vibrant part of their Google experience had been effectively erased.

“That was the last great team I was on at Google. Supportive colleagues, conscious leadership and meaningful work. A few short years later, I experienced a very different Google and the worst team I had ever been on in my career. Cutthroat colleagues, unconscious leadership, meaningless work.

“I would be denied spot bonuses from other teams who benefited from my volunteer work.

“I was eventually informed by my new boss that I wasn't allowed to focus my free time on these types of efforts anymore. Wellbeing and mindfulness is not mission critical.

Despite rave reviews and support from other leaders across the company, this part of my Google experience was dead,” he wrote.

The man ended his post with a reflection on what Google might have become if it had adopted "Be a force for good" as its motto all those years ago, and a question to others: What message would help you move on, and what piece of swag can you just not let go of?