Google has been firing thousands of employees since 2023. This process of layoffs is continuing in the year 2024 as well. Due to layoffs, many employees could not understand what was going to happen to them in the future. Their lives had become chaotic.
Firing people who have given their heart and soul to an organization is extremely painful, especially for employees who have spent more than a decade with the same company.
Something similar happened with Nicholas Whittaker, who had been with Google since 2010 and suddenly got the news of his layoff during the 2023 layoffs. He explained how his entire layoff experience was nothing more than a nightmare. “My layoff experience was traumatic. I got an email on my email at 3 am, which I got after a colleague pinged me in DM on LinkedIn and asked if I was ‘ok’ and if I was ‘safe’,” Whittaker told Business Insider India.
He said that when a coworker asked about his safety, he assumed it was related to a “shooting or a natural disaster,” because he never thought he would be fired from Google. Upon checking his work email, he found his laptop and phone locked. He then turned to his personal email, where he found a “brief and impersonal message” informing him that his job at Google was being terminated.
The former employee said that after the brutal layoff, it took him several months to get his laptop, badge and any other Google property back. During this time, he also had to deal with unemployment and health insurance and gather all the necessary documents for “self-offboarding” to receive his outstanding payments. He added, “During this time, there were many mistakes and miscommunications from the team, which made everything even more uncomfortable.” Whittaker also pointed to a complete lack of communication and empathy from his former team at Google.
However, it’s been over a year since Whittaker was laid off. He has since started his own venture where he helps others advance in their career paths. Reflecting on what inspired him to start his own venture, he explained that after spending 13 years in big tech, particularly in the last few years when he had to deal with toxic teams and leadership, he knew he didn’t want to go back to that environment. “A year before I was laid off, I suffered a severe mental health crisis that was the result of workplace bullying, gaslighting, and toxic leadership,” he said. “I wanted to help others avoid and recover from similar situations and create a community where people could find mutual support and coaching on how to move their careers forward in a mindful way,” Whittaker added.
