Google is offering voluntary severance packages across Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland to reallocate resources toward strategic priorities. The international rollout follows earlier buyout initiatives offered to select teams in the United States and Britain since 2025. In Zurich, departing staff received one month of salary per year of service, capped at a maximum of 12 months. Meanwhile, high-priority divisions such as Google Cloud and DeepMind are completely exempt from the exit incentives.
Key points
Google is utilizing voluntary buyouts to redirect internal resources toward artificial in…: Google is utilizing voluntary buyouts to redirect internal resources toward artificial intelligence without halting overall corporate workforce growth.
Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi has designated artificial intelligence and cloud c…: Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi has designated artificial intelligence and cloud computing as the primary hiring priorities.
Voluntary exit incentives have previously been deployed alongside involuntary layoffs wit…: Voluntary exit incentives have previously been deployed alongside involuntary layoffs within at least one Google business division.
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Google continues to expand its voluntary exit packages to staff, reports Reuters. The buyout offers began in June this year to some employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland “as it looks to rein in rising costs amid heavy spending on artificial intelligence”. However, the new agency could not determine how many employees have accepted the latest round of offers. “In 2025, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance," a Google spokesperson said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
“This past summer, in June, we expanded this program globally in a few countries to support our important work ahead,” the spokesperson added.
Google-parent Alphabet's workforce has grown in recent quarters. However, the company seeks to shift resources toward priority areas, the report stated.
The latest buyouts follow voluntary exit programs offered since 2025 to employees in some divisions in the US and Britain. Executives then described the program as an option for employees who no longer feel aligned with the company's pace or direction. In one case,…
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