Google has expanded its voluntary employee exit programme to five countries, offering severance packages as it seeks to control costs while increasing investment in artificial intelligence.
The latest round covers teams in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. Google has not disclosed how many employees have accepted the offers. A company spokesperson confirmed the expansion to Reuters, saying similar programmes had been introduced in some teams earlier in 2025 before being extended to more countries in June.
The offers are not available across the entire company. Google’s AI research division DeepMind and Google Cloud appear to be excluded, following the approach taken in earlier voluntary exit schemes. Both units are among the areas where Google has identified a need for additional hiring as it strengthens its AI and cloud businesses.
The programme reflects Google’s effort to reduce or reorganise its workforce in selected areas while continuing to recruit for teams considered central to its future growth. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has been increasing its AI spending, placing pressure on the company to manage expenses alongside its investment plans.
Switzerland offers insight into the programme
Google employees in Switzerland received the offer in June, and those who accepted began leaving in August, according to people familiar with the matter.
The country has around 5,000 Google employees and hosts a major engineering centre in Zurich. The severance package offered one month’s salary for every year of service, capped at 12 months. At least four employees from one team of approximately 50 reportedly accepted the offer.
Microsoft has announced a similar programme
Google’s move comes shortly after Microsoft announced a voluntary buyout offer that could cover around 60,000 employees across the US, Canada, India and the UK.
The offer is available to eligible employees at level 70 or below, making approximately 27% of Microsoft’s 223,000-strong workforce eligible. Employees who accept are expected to leave the company at the end of December.
Microsoft has been committing billions of dollars to data centres and computing infrastructure to support its AI ambitions. The buyout follows a voluntary retirement programme announced in April and a separate round of job cuts affecting 4,800 employees in July.
Source: India Today
