Google extends buyout offers to staff in 5 more countries
What's the story
Google has extended its voluntary employee buyout program to five new countries. The move comes as part of a cost-cutting strategy amid the company's heavy investments in artificial intelligence (AI). The countries now included in the program are Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. A Google spokesperson confirmed this expansion to Reuters.
Employee count
Buyout program amid workforce growth
Despite the voluntary exit program, Google's workforce has continued to grow.
As of September 2026, the company's headcount stood at 204,757, an increase of nearly 10,000 employees in just six months.
This growth was partly due to the acquisition of Wiz, a cybersecurity firm that added around 2,000 employees to Google's roster in March this year.
Program details
Buyout offers extended to select divisions
The voluntary exit program is not new for Google. It has been offered to employees in some US and British divisions since last year.
The company describes this program as an option for those who no longer align with its direction.
As AI and cloud computing become Google's primary hiring focus, employees from its Google Cloud and AI unit DeepMind were excluded from previous buyout offers.
Package specifics
Generous exit packages for departing employees
The exit packages were offered in mid-June, with a deadline for applications until mid-July.
Employees who opted for the buyout received one month's salary for every year they worked at Google, up to a maximum of 12 months.
Notably, Google has around 5,000 employees in Switzerland alone, where it has a major engineering hub based out of Zurich.