Will Google comply with its employees’ petition to install layoff protections in place? That is the question of the hour. Over 4,600 Google workers across the US and Canada have now signed a new petition demanding that the tech giant consider alternative strategies that acknowledge its workforce before turning to layoffs as its first line of action. With the flurry of job cuts that have been unleashed on the tech industry in 2026, these demands appear to be the only way for employees to shrug off the threat of layoffs hanging over them.
The layoff protections demanded by Google workers are straightforward: voluntary buyouts, guaranteed severance deals, no GRAD quotas, and severance as leave. These demands made by Google employees follow a previous open letter to the company requesting that their interests be taken into consideration while planning for the future of the organization, as the company isn’t running short of success or the resources needed to stay at the top of its industry.
“Make no mistake: this is a company that is enjoying massive, unprecedented success,” Parul Koul, Google software engineer and Alphabet Workers Union president, explained. “These layoffs and cuts are not difficult decisions, but simply profit being put over the people that make this company run.” While some businesses may be turning to layoffs as a way to cut costs and restore internal stability to operations, Google is not one of them.
Thousands of Google employees have signed a petition to urge the tech giant to set better layoff protections in place. (Image: Freepik)
Google Employee Petition Leaders to Consider Layoff Protections: Google Has Been Known To Listen In the Past
Google’s success may be driven by its people who construct, maintain, and improve its services, but job stability and security remain out of reach. To Google’s credit, the company did not conduct mass layoffs in 2025 and 2026 on the same scale as other tech operations, such as Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon, within the same period. However, it is no stranger to making job cuts. The company did conduct smaller cuts across its design teams, cloud units, core engineering teams, managers, and AI contractors. For the employees affected, the layoffs would have had the same impact, regardless of scale.
Witnessing the external trend of layoffs within the tech space and facing their own job insecurity, Google employees petitioned for layoff protections in 2025. While there was initial uncertainty regarding whether the company would heed their requests, Google did ultimately offer 60,000 Googlers the chance to accept voluntary exit packages (VEPs), which was an act of good faith by the tech leader that hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Not all has been smooth sailing at the organization, considering its firing of 50 employees over their being outspoken about the company’s operations, however, Google has been known to listen to its employee petitions.
Google’s Financial Success Has Not Gone Unnoticed
Koul’s claim that the company has been witnessing unprecedented success is not unfounded. Alphabet’s Q4 2025 financial results, released in February this year, showed that the company saw total revenue hit $113.8 billion, an 18% increase year-over-year, with an operating margin of 31.6%, and total operating income increasing by 16%. Net income jumped 30%, driving EPS up to 31% to $2.82. Google Services remains the financial engine of the company, having generated $95.9 billion for its parent firm.
“It was a tremendous quarter for Alphabet, and annual revenues exceeded $400 billion for the first time. The launch of Gemini 3 was a major milestone, and we have great momentum,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, explained. “We’re seeing our AI investments and infrastructure drive revenue and growth across the board. To meet customer demand and capitalize on the growing opportunities we have ahead of us, our 2026 CapEx investments are anticipated to be in the range of $175 to $185 billion,” he added later in the report.
Over 4,600 Google employees have witnessed and participated in the company’s success and see this as a sufficient reason for the organization to consider alternatives to layoffs.
What Are the Layoff Protections Being Demanded by Google Employees?
The layoff protections mentioned in the letter to the leadership at Google echo what the employees asked for with the previous petition. Employees demand that the organization consider buyouts before it turns to layoffs to ensure that workers have some degree of independence in the decisions being made. Next, not only do employees want a guarantee of severance for every employee, but they also require that the company offer a minimum severance package equal to the packages offered in January 2023, when Google conducted the largest round of layoffs in its operating history.
The employees also want Google to update its performance rating metrics, asking that there should no longer be a GRAD quota, and that ratings should be given based on performance and “cannot be given or changed to achieve a forced distribution.” The latest addition to the petitions is the offer of severance as leave, replacing a lump sum payout with the option for workers to use their severance as an extension of paid garden leave so they can remain on the payroll for longer. This additional demand could see some resistance from Google.
“We celebrate Google’s historic culture of ownership of solutions by workers, and hope that you will engage with us in the spirit of making Google a better place to work for everyone,” the letter reads. “We are requesting that you acknowledge receipt of this letter and respond to our demands within two weeks of its delivery.”
Will Google Comply with the Demands Set Forth by Union Leaders?
Google has not publicly commented on the employee petition, and it’s unclear if the tech giant will speak to the union within the two-week deadline set forth by them. While the company did agree to offer voluntary buyouts in the past, it is unclear if the organization will comply once more. It remains to be seen if layoffs are an immediate concern at Google.
There are no rumors about upcoming layoffs at Google thus far, but this does not eliminate the possibility of the organization having undisclosed plans of its own. The layoff protections demanded by Google employees may have come as a result of internal discussion on future layoffs, but it could just as easily be a result of workers setting precautions in place, given the state of the tech industry in 2026.
Across the country, there have been calls for governments to start regulating layoffs in favor of AI advancement. China has begun to take a stance against AI-motivated layoffs, but its complete legal impact remains to be seen. It is unlikely that such a large-scale movement will result in regulation, even if workers grow more vocal, however, on an organizational scale, it is possible that a coalition of employees could change how things are done.
The Google Union Has Been Vocal About the Rising Trend of Layoffs
The Alphabet Workers Union-CWA Local 9009 has been vocal about other layoffs that have dominated the spotlight recently, including the job cuts at Meta. “It’s another dark week in the tech industry. When Googlers hear that 8,000 of our fellow tech workers at Meta have been laid off via an email, we think of our coworkers who arrived at Google campuses in January 2023 only to find their badges had been deactivated,” the elected Executive Board explained in a statement.
“CEOs of tech companies will wax poetic about the valuable contributions of tech workers, but these callous actions speak louder than words,” they continued. The statement is worth reading in its entirety. The statement may have come with a push to urge more employees to unionize and organize, but these industry trends are likely behind Google workers demanding additional job security and uniting behind a common cause of protection from layoffs.
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