Google announced significant layoffs early Friday, with plans to cut approximately 12,000 jobs, joining other tech giants who are downsizing staff by the thousands.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, confirmed the layoffs in an email sent to Google employees, which was later published in a Google blog post.

The job cuts will reduce the company's workforce by about 6%.

"This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I’m deeply sorry for that," Pichai wrote. "The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."

"Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth," Pichai continued. "To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."

Pichai said the layoffs reflect the result from a “rigorous review" by Google of its operations. The jobs being eliminated will be "cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions," he added.

How many employees does Google have?

According to a September 2022 regulatory filing, Google's parent company Alphabet said it employed nearly 187,000 people – compared to about 150,000 employees at the end of 2021 and 119,000 in 2019.

The 12,000 job cuts announced Friday represent more than 6% of total staff.

Have employees impacted by Google's layoffs been notified?

According to Pichai's message, U.S. employees impacted by the layoffs have already been notified. He noted that the process will take longer in other countries due to local laws and practices.

In the U.S., employees who are laid off will be paid for the notification period (60 days), 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time. Google will also offer a severance package starting at 16 weeks plus two additional weeks for every year an employee worked at Google – as well as six months of healthcare, immigrantion support and job placement services, according to Friday's message, USA Today reports.