The voluntary exit packages initially began in June this year for selected employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. The move comes as Google looks to rein in rising costs amid heavy spending on AI. However, Reuters could not determine how many employees have accepted the latest round of offers.
Confirming the expansion of the programme, a Google spokesperson said in a statement quoted by Reuters, "In 2025, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance."
The spokesperson further added, "This past summer, in June, we expanded this program globally in a few countries to support our important work ahead."
Google's parent company, Alphabet, has increased its workforce in recent quarters. However, the company is looking to redirect resources towards priority areas as it adjusts its organisational focus and spending priorities, the report stated.
The latest buyout offers follow voluntary exit programmes introduced since 2025 for employees in certain divisions in the United States and Britain. At the time, company executives described the initiative as an option for employees who no longer felt aligned with Google's pace or direction.
In one instance, Google offered voluntary exit packages to employees in a division that was also undergoing a round of layoffs. Notably, employees working in Google Cloud and its AI unit DeepMind have been excluded from previous buyout offers.
Google Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi has identified AI and cloud computing as key hiring priorities for the company during quarterly earnings presentations. This indicates the importance the company continues to place on these divisions while offering voluntary exits in other parts of its workforce.
In Switzerland, Google's buyout programme covered multiple divisions but excluded DeepMind, according to the Reuters report. The technology company employs approximately 5,000 people in the country and operates a major engineering hub in Zurich.
Google's Switzerland operations began seeing employees leave after the company introduced voluntary exit packages earlier this year. According to the report, the company announced the offers in mid-June and informed employees who had applied about the outcome by mid-July.
Employees who accepted the offer were eligible to receive compensation equivalent to one month's salary for every year of service, subject to a maximum payout of 12 months' salary.
The expansion of voluntary exit programmes highlights Google's efforts to reorganise its workforce and redirect resources towards strategic priorities, particularly AI and cloud computing, while managing costs associated with its broader operations.
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