Number of Irish jobs at risk as Google announces further redundancies 

The company significantly reduced its hiring levels last year, with the new round of layoffs targeting Google's recruitment team

In February this year, the tech giant announced it would be cutting 240 jobs from its Irish workforce as part of broader plans to reduce its global employee headcount by around 6%. Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

A number of Irish Google employees are believed to be at risk of redundancy with the company confirming further job cuts in addition to those announced previously this year.

The tech giant said it will cut staff across its global recruiting division, with layoffs taking place across several countries.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, a spokesperson for Google said, "We continue to invest in top engineering and technical talent while also meaningfully slowing the pace of our overall hiring. In line with this, the volume of requests for our recruiters has gone down. 

"In order to continue our important work to ensure we operate efficiently, we’ve made the hard decision to reduce the size of our recruiting team."

"We’re supporting everyone impacted with a transition period, outplacement services, and severance as they look for new opportunities here at Google and beyond.”

In February this year, the tech giant announced it would be cutting 240 jobs from its Irish workforce as part of broader plans to reduce its global employee headcount by around 6%.

The company employs around 5,000 people in Ireland, with around 4% of employees affected by the last round of layoffs.

Of the 240 jobs lost, 85 roles were cut in sales, with 80 in tech and engineering, and 75 in support functions. 

The company has also significantly reduced its hiring levels last year, with the new round of layoffs applying only to Google's recruitment team. 

The Financial Services Union - the union responsible for representing Irish tech workers - has said that employees in the company's Dublin office are already being let go.

"The Financial Services Union have had contact from union members working in recruitment services in Google about management arranging one-to-one meetings with staff members to inform them they are to be made redundant," said Gareth Murphy, Head of Industrial relations and campaigns with the FSU.

"This latest announcement of redundancies is another blow for staff in Google. Job security has become a big issue in the Technology sector and this announcement adds to the uncertainty that workers are experiencing."

The FSU has also called on Google to be "transparent and open with staff in relation to the current announcement," adding that it is "vital" that compulsory redundancies are avoided and a voluntary first approach is adopted.

It marks the latest round of layoffs across the Irish tech sector as the industry grapples with a post-pandemic slump in demand.

Leading tech giants including Google, Meta, Twitter, Microsoft and more have slashed hundreds of jobs since October 2022, with more than 3,000 Irish tech workers believed to have lost their jobs in the past year.