They Care About Employees, Honest!: Google Lays Off Head of Mental Health and Wellbeing

Tech giant Google recently laid off around 12,000 employees, including the company’s director of mental health and wellbeing. The Masters of the Universe removing their head of wellbeing is particularly important as their woke Silicon Valley employee base are seeking “psychological safety” after seeing their colleagues shown the door.

Business Insider reports that around 12,000 employees, or 6.4 percent of Google’s workforce, were recently let go in a move that greatly angered the company’s staff. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of the tech giant, explained the layoffs as the result of overhiring, but numerous current and former employees have criticized the business for how it handled the situation.

Breitbart News previously reported that long-term employees felt “100% disposable” after the layoffs:

Before being laid off, engineering manager Justin Moore had worked for Google for more than 16 years. Moore wrote on LinkedIn that he learned about the layoff in a grossly impersonal way — through an automated account deactivation at 3:00 a.m. He added that he had not received any additional “information” or “communication” regarding his termination and that his access to any such communications had been disabled as a result of the deactivation.

Moore continued by stating that his time at Google had been “largely wonderful” and that he was pleased with the work he had accomplished internationally. He added that “employers, particularly large, faceless ones like Google, see you as 100% disposable.” “Live life, not work,” he urged others.

One particularly affected employee was Kristin Maczko, who had served as Director of Google’s mental health and wellbeing team since July 2021. Nearly 15 years into her employment with the company, Maczko called her position a “dream job.” Maczko stated on her LinkedIn profile: “These last few days, I’ve experienced a wide range of emotions. I regret having to say goodbye to my many friends and coworkers at Google.”

Although she did not give an exact figure, Maczko added that many members of Google’s mental health and wellbeing team had also been let go. Google has not yet responded to requests for comment, raising concerns about how much the team has been impacted.

Many employees have expressed their confusion and frustration regarding the layoffs; some have said they received impersonal emails informing them of their termination. Many who were laid off felt suddenly cut off from their workplace when the company swiftly disabled the work laptops and accounts of those who were fired. An engineer who requested anonymity and has worked for Google for more than ten years told Insider, “It’s just not logical. People with years of experience, who are excellent workers, who had skills and knowledge, are being laid off, and they were just shooed out the door without even speaking to the managers who oversee them and have a true understanding of their capabilities.”

Google’s filings in California reveal that it fired dozens of directors from its various divisions in the state. Many workers have questioned the reasoning behind the decisions as a result, with the anonymous engineer saying that it was “It does seem like the truly critical people were not laid off, but there’s a lot of good people that were laid off and it’s hard to see the rhyme or reason.”

Employees who survived the layoffs report feelings of anxiety and a need for “psychological safety,” the type of emotional problems that a director of mental health and wellbeing would be tasked with handling.

As Breitbart News reported:

“The layoffs seem random,” submitted one worker. “I am pro-Google, but I’m pretty shook right now. Help me understand. Should I keep working super hard? Does it matter?”

Another Google staffer asked how the company could “reestablish psychological safety” for its employees in the wake of the layoffs, with another worker noting the company’s commitment that “psychological safety is paramount.”

The employee lamented that laid-off workers were “chosen by VPs who didn’t know the people.”

“How are we supposed to ever feel safe again?” asked the worker.

Breitbart News will continue to report on the shakeup at Google.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan