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A Mothership reader who works at the Google Singapore office said the company laid off 189 employees on the evening of Feb. 16.

Mothership understands that amongst the affected employees, 20 of them are believed to be software engineers.

The retrenchment exercise translates to around 6 per cent of Google's headcount in Singapore.

Google revealed in a blog post in August 2022 that it had around 3,000 staff in its Singapore office.

The layoff took place after Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., announced on Jan. 20 that it would be cutting more than 12,000 jobs globally, according to Reuters.

The Singapore source also told Mothership that morale of existing staff at the Google Singapore office has been affected.

In response to Mothership's queries, Google said the company is unable to share the number of employees impacted in Singapore.

However, the exercise is part of the 12,000 roles that are affected globally, and Google will support impacted employees in line with local practices as those let go look for their next opportunity.

The statement also referred to a January 2023 blog post from its CEO Sundar Pichai about cutting 12,000 jobs globally.

The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) shared that all companies planning or carrying out retrenchment should refer to the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment for guidance.

It also highlighted that companies must notify the Ministry of Manpower of retrenchment within five working days after notifying any employees of their retrenchment.

Mothership has reached out to National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) for comments and will update this article when they reply.

Jobs-cutting exercise across tech industry

Google is not the only tech giant that has cut down the size of its workforce over the last few months.

In November 2022, Twitter axed various jobs in its engineering, sales, and marketing departments at its Singapore office.

Likewise, Facebook's parent company, Meta, also laid off at least 10 employees in its Singapore office around the same period.

More recently, Yahoo announced that it would be eliminating around 1,000 jobs, or roughly 12 per cent of its headcount, reported The Straits Times.

Deliveroo also reportedly said it would cut about 350 jobs or nearly 10 per cent of its non-rider workforce.

Earlier this week, LinkedIn downsized its global talent acquisition team, citing a reduced need for hiring, according to ST.

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