Google offers voluntary buyout packages to employees in five countries, move comes amid AI spending
PTC News Desk: Google is offering some of its employees the option to leave the company with a severance package as it tries to control costs while increasing its investment in artificial intelligence (AI).
According to media reports, the voluntary exit programme has been extended to employees in five countries. The company first introduced similar offers to certain teams earlier in 2025 before expanding the programme to more countries in June.
The latest round of offers covers employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. Google has not revealed how many employees have accepted the offer. A company spokesperson confirmed the expansion to Reuters, saying that similar programmes had been introduced in selected teams earlier in 2025 and later extended to more countries.
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However, the offer is not available to all employees. Google's AI research division DeepMind and its Google Cloud business appear to be excluded from the programme, as was the case with earlier voluntary exit schemes. Both divisions are among the areas where the company plans to hire more employees to strengthen its AI and cloud operations.
Google is therefore looking to reduce or reorganise its workforce in some areas while continuing to invest in teams that are important to its future growth.
Google employees in Switzerland begin leaving
Alphabet, Google's parent company, has been increasing its spending on AI, putting pressure on the company to manage its expenses.
The impact of the voluntary exit programme is already visible in Switzerland. Employees there received the offer in June, and those who accepted began leaving the company in August, according to people familiar with the matter.
Google has around 5,000 employees in Switzerland, which is home to a major engineering centre in Zurich.
The severance package offered employees one month's salary for every year of service, with the total payment capped at 12 months' salary.
At least four employees from a team of around 50 reportedly accepted the offer.
Microsoft offers voluntary buyout
Google's move comes as other technology companies review their workforce requirements while spending more on AI.
Microsoft recently announced a voluntary buyout programme that could cover around 60,000 employees in the US, Canada, India and the UK. The offer is available to eligible employees at level 70 or below, making around 27 per cent of Microsoft's 223,000 employees eligible. Those who accept the offer are expected to leave the company by the end of December.
Microsoft has been investing billions of dollars in data centres and computing infrastructure to support its AI plans. The latest buyout offer follows a voluntary retirement programme announced in April and another round of job cuts affecting 4,800 employees in July.
- PTC NEWS
