[AStellersSeaCow]

Yeah, I hate the way they were conducted but can't think of a better way that wouldn't open the company up to a lot of risk.

I'm not convinced that announcing them in advance is actually better anyways. We have partner teams in Europe who get to spend a month or more after the announcement worrying about whether or not they still have a job. Morale on the teams in the US took a noticeable hit, but the teams in EU have seemed utterly miserable for the last week.

[biztos]

I was laid off in the EU (not from Google, and not in this wave) — and yeah, productivity completely tanked for months while we waited for the relevant information to seep through HR’s stonewalling.

I think it’s better to have some warning, but it would have been great if they could have said “your job ends in three months, here are your options” instead of leaving people hanging while they figured out the details on the corporate side. Or even, if paranoid about disgruntled employees, to say “welcome to your garden leave, here are your options.”