Alphabet’s health-focused company Verily to cut 15% of staff

Verily, the health-focused company housed under Google parent Alphabet, has announced that it will lay off 15 per cent of its workforce in a restructuring move as it strives for financial independence from its parent company.

The cuts will affect about 240 people, reports CNBC, citing sources. Verily is one of Google’s sister companies, operating within Alphabet’s “Other Bets” category.

Verily CEO Stephen Gillett in an email stated that the cuts reflect discontinued programmes and team “redundancy”, according to the report.

It says it will offer severance and outplacement services “in the coming weeks and months” but did not provide details yet.

“While communicating via email is not ideal, this was a deliberate decision, enabling us to communicate as efficiently and simultaneously as possible. We’re also taking today and the rest of the week to ensure each impacted Veep has a personal discussion with a leader and HR partner to discuss the details, answer questions, and provide support through the transition,” reads the note.

The note further stated that those who are still employed will receive an email with the subject “Your Role at Verily”, and those who work outside the US will hear from their business leaders, said the report.

Earlier this month, Amazon also confirmed to lay off around 18,000 employees, and several teams will be impacted, especially Amazon Stores along with People, Experience and Technology (PXT) organisations.

The Amazon CEOsaid in a statement that they were not done with the annual planning process as earlier mentioned, and “I expected there would be more role reductions in early 2023”.