Google engineer ‘silently mourned’ after taking mental health leave: report

A Google engineer in Los Angeles said she learned about the layoff after she received a notice from the company at 2 a.m. while she was on mental health leave.

Ali Neil, 29, was one of 12,000 employees who received layoff notices earlier this month as part of Google’s massive layoffs.

Neil told Insider that she “bled for Google” and was taken aback by the severance pay notice, suggesting she would not be included in any round of furloughs while on vacation.

“Now I’m staying here to find a job for the first time in years after being on mental health leave in what is arguably one of the toughest jobs in the hiring and housing markets,” Neil said in an interview published on Tuesday. .

According to her LinkedIn account, Neal has been working at the tech giant since August 2020 and was reportedly on vacation for about three months when she received her termination notice.

The fired engineer said Google immediately cut off her access to her work laptop and corporate systems, making it difficult to communicate with colleagues. In addition, Neil was allegedly told that she would not be allowed to return company-owned devices to the facility and would have to either provide them to security outside the office or mail them back.

Neil said she was unable to sleep again after receiving the late-night email and “mourned silently” until the morning. She also spoke about the experience in a LinkedIn post last week.

The internal bloodbath included Google’s head of mental health and wellness, Kristin Matzko, who confirmed her departure in a lengthy LinkedIn post and made it clear her team had been hit hard.

“To the many people on the mental health and wellness team whose roles have been eliminated, thank you for all you have done to improve the wellbeing of Google employees,” Matsko said.

“For those left behind, Googlers need you more than ever and I’m excited to see what you’ll do,” she added.

In a memo to employees last week, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the layoffs have affected workers “across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions.”

He said the cuts came after a “thorough review” to prepare the company for deteriorating economic conditions and ensure its workforce is in line with priority initiatives.

Many Google employees affected by layoffs have taken to social media to express their disgust at the way the layoffs have been handled – in some cases, workers learned of their plight via email or read news reports.

One former Google manager who worked for the company for 16 years said the layoffs showed that workers at big tech firms are considered “100%” disposable.

Another former employee, a Los Angeles attorney, said he learned he was fired after reading an email at 2 a.m. while feeding his young daughter.

In Google’s home state of California, the company laid off 31 massage therapists who worked in offices.

The Post reached out to Google for comment.