Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. has announced plans to downsize and lay off approximately 12,000 employees. The cuts amount to six percent of the company’s workforce, making it the biggest round of layoffs in Google’s history, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an email to staff on Friday. “I’m deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”

Pichai went on to explain that the company had spent the last couple of years in a hiring frenzy, growing from a workforce of 150,028 people to 186,779 between 2021 and 2022.

However, Google executives are now being forced to make difficult decisions as part of a “rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company,” Pichai said.

The layoffs will impact staff in all product areas, at various levels, and around the world.

Pichai is also pledging to support all of the employees who are impacted. Those laid off will receive a severance package beginning at 16 weeks salary, plus two more weeks for every additional year at Google. They will also be paid for their remaining vacation time and will be offered six months of health insurance as well as job placement services and immigration assistance for those who qualify.

“We have a substantial opportunity in front of us with AI across our products and are prepared to approach it boldly and responsibly,” Pichai wrote in his email. “All this work is a continuation of the ‘healthy disregard for the impossible’ that’s been core to our culture from the beginning. When I look around Google today, I see that same spirit and energy driving our efforts. That’s why I remain optimistic about our ability to deliver on our mission, even on our toughest days.”