A Googler says he was laid off while caring for his terminally-ill mom — but would take another job at the company 'in a heartbeat'

• A Google employee said he was laid off while on carers' leave looking after his terminally-ill mom.
• Paul Baker, a video producer, told Insider he'd embraced Google culture "100%."
• He said he'd take a similar position at the company "in a heartbeat."

A Google employee said he was laid off while on carers' leave looking after his terminally-ill mom.

Paul Baker told Insider he was partway through a month of paid carers' leave when a friend notified him of Google's mass layoffs, announced January 20.

He said he soon discovered his work laptop had been cut off, so he switched on his personal laptop to discover an email from the company saying he was being let go.

He said he was "so confused" and his main emotions were "shock and sadness."

Baker joined Google in late 2018 and worked at the company's office in Venice, Los Angeles, as a video production manager. Insider has verified his employment, severance email, and period of carers' leave.

He wrote on LinkedIn on Thursday that he was on carer's leave "for my immediate family member's terminal cancer."

Baker said he'd felt concerned that Google was overstaffed but expected the company to implement cost-cutting measures other than layoffs. He said because he worked at Google Ads, a revenue-generating unit of the company, he thought he'd be safe even if Google did decide to cut headcount.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, said on January 20 the company was laying off about 12,000 staff after it over-hired. "Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth," he said in an email to staff. "To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."

On September 30, Alphabet had 186,779 employees, according to regulatory filings — an increase of roughly one quarter from the 150,028 staff it employed a year earlier.

One Google employee told Insider she was let go while on maternity leave. Other laid-off Googlers have taken to LinkedIn to share their stories about being laid off.

'I drank the Kool-Aid'

Baker told Insider he'd wanted to work at Google since a friend took him to one of the company's offices as a guest. He praised the perks – including free meals, massages, and fitness sessions – as "unmatched."

"I 100% embraced Google culture," Baker said, adding that he'd sometimes spend the whole day at the office, eating three meals there, going to the gym, and then attending a community event: "I drank the Kool-Aid."

Baker said he was "extremely disappointed" by the impersonal manner in which Google laid him off, and by a lack of communication about what would happen with his unique situation.

He said that as of Wednesday afternoon, he hadn't received specifics from the company about how his severance terms, including health cover, would fit in with the remainder of his carers' leave. He said he was "frantically" trying to arrange a doctor's appointment while he still had cover.

But he said despite all this, he still looks back fondly at his time at the company, having planned to spend a further five to 15 years working there. "If there's ever a Google position open for another video producer position, I would take it in a heartbeat," he added.

Google didn't respond to Insider's request for comment.