Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has introduced a voluntary exit program for select US employees, offering severance packages to those who opt to leave the company.
- The program applies to employees in the Platforms & Devices division, including teams working on Pixel, Android, Chrome, Fitbit, Nest, and more.
- The move follows last year’s restructuring, which merged the Pixel hardware and Android software divisions to accelerate AI development.
Google is offering US employees in its Platforms & Devices division — which includes teams behind Pixel, Android, Nest, Fitbit, and Chrome — a chance to leave the company voluntarily with a severance package. The move, first reported by 9to5Google, follows the tech giant’s decision last year to merge its Pixel hardware and Android software teams into a single unit, a shift now prompting further organizational adjustments.
In an internal memo shared Thursday, Senior Vice President Rick Osterloh announced the “voluntary exit program,” framing it as an opportunity for workers who feel disconnected from the merged team’s goals or who are struggling with hybrid work policies.
Here’s Google’s statement in full:
“The Platforms & Devices team is offering a voluntary exit program that provides US-based Googlers working on this team the ability to voluntarily leave the company with a severance package. This comes after we brought two large organizations together last year. There’s tremendous momentum on this team and with so much important work ahead, we want everyone to be deeply committed to our mission and focused on building great products, with speed and efficiency.”
The reorganization and exit program both tie back to Google’s AI ambitions. Merging Android and Pixel teams under one roof was designed to “speed up decision-making” and ensure tighter collaboration on AI projects, Osterloh explained last year.
The voluntary exit program applies only to US-based staff in the Platforms & Devices group, which spans hardware (Pixel, Nest, Fitbit), Android ecosystems (Auto, TV, Wear OS, XR), and software tools like ChromeOS, Google Photos, and Google One. Divisions like Search and AI are unaffected.
Osterloh noted that the voluntary exits address feedback from staff who criticized Google’s handling of past layoffs for not offering departure options upfront. The memo acknowledges that some employees may not feel fully aligned with the division’s broader mission. Rather than imposing involuntary job cuts — at least for now — Google is giving employees a choice to step away.
That said, Google’s broader cost-cutting efforts cannot be ignored. Last year, Alphabet’s new CFO said the company was focused on “driving further efficiencies,” a phrase often associated with reducing overhead costs. While Google has not announced layoffs as part of this initiative, it remains to be seen whether this is a preemptive measure to trim headcount before any more drastic decisions are made.
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