Approximately 12,000 Google employees, or 6% of the company, were let go on Friday, but not everyone received the “abrupt and impersonal” email prior to their commute. Accordingly, some workers who didn’t receive the memo — at least in New York and Chicago — discovered they had been fired when their badges prevented them from entering their office.
Employees, including at least one with 20 years of service, have complained that their termination was handled in a “inhumane,” “cold,” and “a smack in the face” manner that left at least one employee with “shaky hands”
the insider
A software engineer who was recently let go from Google spoke openly about seeing one of his coworkers constantly attempt to scan his employee badge attempting to enter Google’s Chelsea, New York office, but was turned away when the card reader turned red.
The colleague was visibly perplexed, according to the former worker, and once his badge stopped working, he walked through reception and up the stairs leading up to the office, where a security guard met him and led him out
a third dismissal An employee of Google told Insider that when two of their team members were unable to badge into the office with the rest of the group at an off-site at the Chicago office, they learned that they had been fired.
At the building in Mountain View, California, security guards additionally instructed staff to sign in individually in the morning of the layoffs, an additional source familiar with the matter told Insider.
One fired software employee described receiving their termination notice through email as “a slap in the face.” When another employee found out she was being fired, she said she was unable to “control her shaking hands.” Another software engineer claimed he didn’t intend to apply given the “inhuman” manner in which the layoffs were announced. Google is still hiring, but laid-off employees must apply externally like any other candidate.
