Google paring back contractor workforce
Published: 25 Nov 2008 11:43 GMT
Google is in the process of paring back a contractor workforce that numbers around 10,000, the company confirmed on Monday.
The contractor-cut story made the rounds on Monday after publication of a Silicon Valley WebGuild article bearing the headline: 'Google layoffs — 10,000 workers affected'. However, the 10,000 figure, and details of Google's efforts to reduce its contractor headcount, emerged in October in a San Jose Mercury News article, and it is unclear exactly how many people will lose their job.
In the San Jose Mercury Newsarticle, Google co-founder Sergey Brin revealed the 10,000 number and said: "It's really high."
The article states: "[Brin] said Google began looking at the number six months ago and has a plan to significantly reduce that number through vendor management, converting some contractors to regular employees, and other approaches."
Google spokeswoman Jane Penner didn't share too many details on Monday, such as how many contractors are affected, whether contracts are being cancelled or just not renewed, how many contractors Google will hire, and over what time frame the changes will take place.
"We have 10,000, and we have had a plan in place for a while to significantly reduce that number," she said. "This is something we've been thinking about for a while — six or seven months. It predates the most acute phase of the [present economic] crisis," Penner said.
Google has been slowing hiring, and reportedly had 20,123 of its own employees at the end of September. The company has been working to increase revenue from YouTube and other properties, and has shut down projects such as the Lively virtual world and SearchMash experimental search site, which "has gone the way of the dinosaur", according to the page.
Layoffs are spreading across the world, including at direct Google competitors such as Yahoo, but job cuts at Google get more attention than most.
One reason is that Google is a high-profile company with lavish benefits, such as '20 percent time', in which engineers can work on projects of their own choosing. Another reason is that the company has been relatively bullish about the extent to which its primary source of revenue, search advertising, is recession-proof.
Credit: Google cutting contractor workforce from CNET News
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