Google to cut 100 jobs, close engineering offices

Layoffs precipitated by state of economy: VP

Google Inc. is closing three engineering offices and cutting 100 recruiters from its workforce as the recession dampens hiring at the internet search company.

"Given the state of the economy, we recognized that we needed fewer people focused on hiring," Laszlo Bock, a Google vice-president, wrote in a blog posting late Wednesday announcing the layoffs.

The cuts are a rare move for Google. It made its first ever significant round of layoffs last April, when it cut some 300 jobs from the American operations of DoubleClick, which Google acquired in March 2008.
The newest cuts account for around a quarter of Google's recruiting staff, but are modest relative to the company's full-time workforce, which numbers roughly 20,000.

The moves follow news last week of a government filing from Google showing a significant cutback in temporary employees aimed at trimming costs. The company acknowledged in November that it would be looking to reduce contract workers while retaining full-time employees.

In a separate posting Wednesday, Google said it would close its engineering offices in Austin, Texas, Trondheim, Norway, and Lulea, Sweden, a step the company said would affect 70 workers.

"Our strong desire is to keep as many of these 70 engineering employees at Google as possible," wrote Google's vice-president for engineering and research, Alan Eustace.

"Our long-term goal is not to trim the number of people we have working on engineering projects or reduce our global presence, but create a smaller number of more effective engineering sites, which will ensure that innovation and speed remain at our core," he wrote.

Google's revenue from online ads, the company's core business, is still growing, but the economic downturn has put a crimp in the pace as consumers shop less online and advertising budgets shrink.

The company has given no sign that it will cut back on research and development or acquisitions, but has taken steps recently to reduce discretionary spending, closing its free cafeteria for employees and offering workers more modest holiday gifts.