An ex-Googler said finding out they'd get far less stock than expected felt like a 'second kick in the chest' after losing their job

Sundar Pichai is CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet.

Mateusz Wlodarczyk/Getty Images

• Google told laid-off workers that it had miscalculated the amount of stock they'll get in severance.
• Some employees will be getting less stock than they initially expected.
• One ex-Googler told Insider: "I was literally up till 2 a.m. last night stressed over it."

An ex-Google worker who found out they'd be getting about 40% less stock than expected after losing their job said it felt like "a second kick in the chest in three weeks."

The search giant said on January 20 it was laying off about 12,000 employees. Each employee in the US received a generic layoff email followed by a personalized message outlining their individual severance package.

On Thursday, Google told laid-off workers that its emails had misstated the amount of stock they would get, according to emails seen by Insider, and apologized for the errors.

The former member of Google's engineering team told Insider that the stock reduction "genuinely changes the outlook as to how I was going to approach this."

The person asked to remain anonymous because they are still seeking a new role. Insider has verified their identity and employment history.

The ex-Googler told Insider that the revision, which came almost three weeks after the initial correspondence, was an unpleasant surprise.

"Admittedly, I had done my own rough calculations. I thought to myself: huh, that number [of stocks] seems pretty high. But then I thought: Maybe this is them saying, 'Hey, we're taking care of you because we did a shitty thing to you at the last minute'."

The worker acknowledged that Google employees were "ridiculously well-paid," but said that the revision had been a big source of concern for their family: "I was literally up till 2 a.m. last night stressed over it."

In the latest email, Google People Operations told former staff: "First we want to apologize for an inaccurate calculation that appeared in the initial notification email. The severance package that we explained in the support site, detailed documentation and publicly was correct, but it was inaccurately reflected in the email we sent."

A representative for Google told Insider in a statement: "We have followed up and corrected the calculation — and this doesn't change the fact that all departing employees will still be eligible to receive salary and stock units for both the notice period and the severance payment, as well as their 2022 bonus, unused vacation, six months of healthcare and additional support."

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