Google offered voluntary buyouts to employees across multiple divisions on Tuesday, including its Knowledge and Information unit, central engineering, marketing, research, and communications teams.

The K&I division, which oversees Google’s search, ads, and commerce operations, is central to the company’s business, according to CNBC.

This move is the latest in Google’s ongoing efforts to reduce its workforce, following a series of job cuts that

began with the layoff of 12,000 employees in 2023.

The Information earlier reported that Google had extended buyout offers to employees in its Search and Ads division.

The company has since confirmed that the “voluntary exit program” is available to U.S.-based employees. In addition, some teams are now requiring remote workers living within 50 miles of a Google office to return under a hybrid schedule, part of a broader effort to increase in-person collaboration.

“Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,” Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini wrote in an emailed statement to CNBC.

The K&I unit, which has around 20,000 employees, underwent a reorganisation in October, placing Google executive Nick Fox in charge.

In a memo sent Tuesday, Fox encouraged employees who are not meeting performance expectations to consider the buyout offer, while urging those who are engaged and performing well to stay with the company.

“I want to be very clear: If you’re excited about your work, energized by the opportunity ahead, and performing well, I really (really!) hope you don’t take this! We have ambitious plans and tons to get done,” Fox wrote, according to the memo.

The buyouts follow comments made in October by Google’s finance chief, Anat Ashkenazi, who identified cost-cutting as a key priority amid plans to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2025.