Google is cutting food, travel, and social perks of current employees after firing 12,000 workers

By Ankita GargGoogle is cutting the perks of the current employees in order to save costs. The company recently fired as many as 12,000 employees and it is still taking some other cost-saving measures to use the revenue for something that is more important or would benefit the firm. However, several people are disappointed because Google was once known for providing good perks to employees and taking good care of them.

“Google was one of the pioneers of the work culture where the employees are pampered,” an East Coast engineer who worked at Google for around 15 years said. “Then slowly the perks have been going away. They were being stripped down gradually,” he added.

Some of the employees told Business Insider that Google is reducing its cafe opening hours as well as how often one can change their laptops at the company. This is something that the tech giant has itself confirmed in a memo sent to employees and asserted that this will also help save some costs.

“We’ve assessed the equipment we provide Googlers. Today’s devices have a much longer lifespan and greater performance and reliability, so we have made changes to what’s available and how often it’s replaced — while making sure that people have what they need to perform their role. Because equipment is a significant expense for a company of our size, we’ll be able to save meaningfully here,” Google said.

The software giant also revealed that the company has tightened belt on cafes, MicroKitchens and mobile phone usage, and removed the hybrid vehicle subsidy. It has also reduced T&E budgets, which include expense for the transport, meals, and accommodation that are associated with a business trip.

A sales consultant who was recently handed over the pink slip by Google revealed that travel budgets had been “very tight,” and that the company has also started questioning about travel for client engagements. “It was a struggle to get certain things approved, even lunches, dinners or holiday gifts for the clients. That was definitely never a problem in the past.”

A laid-off Google engineer also told the cited source that the team budgets for discretionary expenses have also been cut, which includes meals with colleagues. In the past few years, Google has also been slashing holiday gifts and scrapping parties to save costs.

“It made me super excited to get a cash bonus or a flashy gift if/when I returned to Google,” Paul Baker, who was recently laid off, said. “But no end of the year holiday cash bonuses came. Getting a fun gift was a thing of the past,” Baker added. He also said that “Food was the greatest perk at Google.”