US Big Tech Like Google, Amazon Face Difficulty Downsizing Employees In Europe Amid Strict Labor Laws

After declaring the most significant layoffs in their history, U.S. big tech companies have difficulty reducing their European headcount.

In the U.S., companies made widespread job cuts. Meanwhile, Europe's labor protections shield employees from mass layoffs among tech companies without prior consultations with employee interest groups, Bloomberg reports.

In France and Germany, labor laws are among the strongest in the E.U. Google is currently negotiating with works councils to negotiate with management about workforce issues.

In France, Google parent Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL is in talks to reduce headcount through voluntary departures, offering severance packages.

Amazon.Com Inc AMZN has tried to get some senior managers there to resign by offering up to one year's pay and has granted leave to departing employees so their shares can vest for distribution as bonuses.

Due to the requirements, Google branches in Germany and France will be some of the last locations to be affected by the cuts, if even at all. 

Google acknowledged the negotiations and added that it was not planning on implementing layoffs in Romania, Greece, or Austria. The same holds good in Paris, where Google has around 1,600 employees.

By contrast, in the U.K., where labor protections are not as severe, an estimated 500 out of 8,000 Googlers will have to leave. The same is true in Dublin, where unions claim that Google is planning to oust 240 employees, and in Zurich, where unions anticipate that the number of layoffs will be about 200.

Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms Inc META employ over 170,000 full-time tech workers on the continent and in the U.K. Software engineers often earn half as much as their counterparts in the U.S. 

At Amazon France, with about 1,500 office employees in Paris, some senior managers with 5 - 8 years of experience were offered up to a year's pay to leave. Amazon allowed the departing employees to stay on "gardening leave" until May, when Amazon shares vest. 

Amazon's German arm has started laying off people still in their probationary periods and offering proposals for voluntary departures. 

In Luxembourg, exiting Amazon employees have been offered a month's salary per year of service, with extra pay determined by national laws.

Price Action: GOOG shares traded higher by 1.19% at $106.20 premarket on the last check Thursday.

Image by Tumisu from Pixaby