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Google is introducing a voluntary exit program for select U.S. teams and tightening its return-to-office policy for remote employees living near offices, aiming to streamline operations without losing top talent.
While the company emphasizes it wants high performers to stay, it’s also offering a “supportive exit path” for those misaligned with its strategy amid growing pressure from the accelerating AI race.
The company is once again walking the tightrope that corporate America has been struggling with since the end of the pandemic: How do you invite some staff to leave, without your best employees walking out the door?
Indeed, how do you ask employees to return to the office without your best hires going in search of new pastures?
And with the AI race gathering pace with every quarter, losing valuable human resources to fierce competitors could have a tremendous impact.
These questions and concerns are clearly top of mind for the Big Tech giant, which sent out a memo to staff in the U.S. this week indicating buyouts were available to certain teams — notably within its knowledge and information and central engineering units, in addition to marketing, research, and communications.
Similar moves were already announced by Google’s Platforms and Devices team, as well as its People Operations team, earlier this year.
In addition to announcing the “voluntary exit program,” Alphabet-owned Google also said staff in some teams will also have to come to the office more often, though did not specify which departments would be affected when asked by Fortune.
This change of rules will impact remote staffers who live within 50 miles of the office, and will be asked to return to their in-person desks on a hybrid schedule. The policy change is not a company-wide alteration.
“Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,” Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini told Fortune. “A number of teams are also asking remote employees who live near an office to return to a hybrid work schedule in order to bring folks more together in-person.”
The severance packages are available to U.S.-based individuals regardless of their role or level, seeking to leave the Mag7 company whether for personal or professional reasons.
Finding the balance
The problem with opening up buyout conversations with staffers does mean that talented individuals may just take up their employer on the offer.
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Indeed, a working paper published last year from Mark Ma, associate professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues found prominent technology and finance companies that implemented return-to-office (RTO) mandates lost their most skilled and senior employees.
This seems to be a situation Google is aware of and is trying to navigate. Per CNBC reporting, which viewed the memo from Google executive Nick Fox announcing the changes, the tech leader wanted to be “very clear” he hopes high performers will stay.
“If you’re excited about your work, energized by the opportunity ahead, and performing well, I really (really!) hope you don’t take this! We have ambitious plans and tons to get done,” Fox wrote, per the memo reviewed by CNBC. “On the other hand, this [voluntary exit program] offers a supportive exit path for those of you who don’t feel aligned with our strategy, don’t feel energized by your work, or are having difficulty meeting the expectations of your role.”
On the RTO changes, Fox added (per the memo reported by The Verge) “you’ve heard me say that I believe we innovate better and make decisions faster when we’re working together in the office” and continued teams are working to ensure the sites were ready for an influx of new visitors.
The goal, he wrote, “is to ensure that everyone on our team is fully committed — it’s not to achieve a headcount target. In fact, we continue to hire where needed, and we expect to backfill many of the exited roles — which will also create new opportunities for internal mobility and growth.”
Written by Eleanor Pringle for Fortune as “Google is offering buyouts and tightening its RTO policy—only problem is, it’s already worried about losing top performers” and republished with permission.
