Google engineer laid off via email after working there for 20 years calls it a 'slap in the face'

A Google engineer who says he was laid off via email after working there for 20 years has understandably described it as a 'slap in the face'.

Telling anyone about their last day at work with a virtual message is a damn disrespectful thing to do, let alone when you've worked at the company for two decades.

This was allegedly the situation facing Jeremy Joslin, whose LinkedIn profile shows he was a software engineer at the tech giant, having been with the firm since 2003.

Despite his years of service, he revealed he became the casualty of a series of layoffs - and he was told about it in the most brutal manner.

Twitter/Jeremy Joslin

Taking to Twitter last week, Jeremy wrote: "It's hard for me to believe that after 20 years at #Google I unexpectedly find out about my last day via an email.

"What a slap in the face. I wish I could have said goodbye to everyone face to face."

The post arrived on Friday (January 20), the same day Alphabet, Google's parent company, announced it was planning to cut 6% of its global workforce.

That's approximately 12,000 people who are set to be laid off at a time of economic struggle in the US.

Over on LinkedIn, Jeremy shared a similar message, writing: "After nearly 20 years at Google I find out that I'm being let go via an email.

"I never thought it would happen like this and I'm saddened that I didn't get the opportunity to say goodbye to my friends and co-workers in person."

Twitter/Jeremy Joslin

The tech expert has received an influx of support from the online community, including job offers at other major businesses.

Marco Massenzio, principal engineer at Cruise, said he used to work with Jeremy at Google and that he 'always enjoyed working together'.

"Why don't you please get in touch? I'm in the Infra group at Cruise and we can sure do with some great engineering talent," he wrote.

"On a separate note, I'm (mildly) surprised to hear how this is being handled, but not all that much.

"Google stopped being Google circa 2010, and here we're just seeing the end game of a decade-long slide towards becoming 'just another corporate' – so sad, but also probably inevitable."

Although Jeremy was grateful for the offer and said it was nice to hear from Marco, he explained: "I'm not ready to consider other jobs right now but I'll reach out when the time is right."

Meanwhile, Jina A, who works as a designer, developer, and community advocate, said she too had been impacted by the layoffs.

Commenting on Jeremy's tweet, she wrote: "I found out because I woke up to my phone sending me a notification that my phone service would be shut off soon.

"And all my corp account stuff was locked out. Saw the email later."

Jeremy replied: "Yeah I saw that notification too but thought it was just a bug. After I saw the email it made sense."

UNILAD has contacted Google for comment.