Google to lay off ‘hundreds’ of staff amid sales team restructuring

Google says it will lay off several hundreds of employees as part of its plans to restructure.

According to Business Insider, Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, informed staff in a memo on Tuesday, that the fresh job cuts “were the result of changes to how Google’s sales team operated”.

The job cuts will reportedly affect the majority of employees responsible for sales advertising to big companies – large customer sales (LCS) units – and the team that sells ads to smaller businesses, the Google customer solutions (GCS) team.

“This week, we’re announcing the evolution of our sales operating model across LCS and GCS. Our goal has always been to have the right customer, mapped to the right channel for growth, with the best support models and streamlined operations,” the memo reads.

“Every year we go through a rigorous channel management process to assess this and adjust customers accordingly. 

“This year’s adjustment will be more sizable than usual — similar to what we did in 2016 and 2017 — and it will play into the strengths of each of our sales teams.

“Going forward, GCS will be our core channel for scaling growth by dynamically delivering the right treatment for every customer — while LCS will focus on transformational growth for our largest, most sophisticated customers.

“As part of this shift, unfortunately, several hundred jobs will be eliminated or put at risk (subject to local regulations and consultations).”

Schindler said affected employees would be supported throughout the process and could apply for open positions across the team.

“While I’m confident we’re doing the right thing for our customers, partners, and ultimately our business, this will be very hard for many, especially across our LCS teams,” he added.

The development is coming a week after the company sacked about 1,000 employees.

In January 2023, Google’s parent firm, Alphabet Inc., announced plans to lay off 12,000 workers.