Some laid-off staff at Google's Irish office could be given severance packages worth $320,000, report says
- Google could offer severance packages worth $320,000 to some workers being laid off in Ireland.
- That's according to the Sunday Times, which says employees are being offered six weeks severance per year worked.
Google staffers in Ireland made redundant as part of the company's 12,000 global cuts could be offered severance packages worth more than €300,000 ($320,000), British newspaper the Sunday Times reported this week.
The tech giant announced plans to lay off over 12,000 workers globally in January, in a major cost-cutting drive. Some 240 workers at its Irish offices were affected including 85 in sales, 80 in technology, and 75 in support services, according to the Sunday Times.
Those being laid off are being offered severance packages that constitute six weeks of wages for every year worked at the firm, per the newspaper.
While the Sunday Times did not provide any specific examples, it noted that if any staffer who had worked at the company since it opened its Irish office in 2003 was laid off, they could be in line for over $320,000 in severance.
Staff who are part of the redundancies will be put on paid leave for 90 days, the Sunday Times reported.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
CEO Sundar Pichai wrote about the layoffs in a memo, in January: "The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.
"Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."
The memo mentioned that US employees will receive a minimum of 16-weeks of severance pay with two weeks for every additional year at the company.
In February, some laid-off workers learned that they would be receiving fewer stock units as part of their severance package because of an "inaccurate calculation," two laid-off employees told Insider's Rosalie Chan.
Google confirmed that it miscalculated the amount of stock workers would get in severance, with one worker saying that some would be receiving tens of thousands of dollars less than expected.