After announcing the biggest round of layoffs ever, Silicon Valley's big tech companies are now getting a taste of how difficult it is to cut jobs in Europe。

In the United States, companies can announce widespread layoffs and lay off hundreds or even thousands of employees within a few months.。But in Europe, mass layoffs at tech companies have stalled because labor protections have made it nearly impossible for some countries to fire employees without prior consultation with employee interest groups.。

According to a person familiar with the matter, France and Germany have always had one of the strictest labor laws in the EU.。Google is currently in talks with the Labor Commission.。Labor boards are company-specific groups whose elected employee representatives negotiate with management on workforce issues。By law, companies must negotiate with these committees before implementing layoffs, a sometimes lengthy process that includes information gathering, negotiations and the possibility of recourse。

Google has around 1,600 employees in Paris, and a jobs committee is in talks with the company over how many and what types of employees to include in the voluntary group departure plan.。People familiar with the matter said a resolution could take a few more weeks, during which time everything will go on as usual.。According to an internal employee, the company's management has made it clear that it will not force anyone to leave。

So it's not easy to make layoffs in France, and Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., is currently in talks to reduce its workforce by allowing employees to leave voluntarily.。Of course, the company will provide generous enough severance payments to compensate these "voluntary departure" employees.。

In response to a media question, a Google spokesperson said: "We have been working carefully and individually in each country to fully comply with local legal requirements, which are location-specific, complex and time-consuming.。"

In the UK, labour law protections are less stringent by comparison than in France and Germany, according to Matthew Waley, a United Trade Union representative。Because of Google's planned 6% layoff rate, it is estimated that 500 of the 8,000 Google employees in the UK will have to leave。

In an effort to speed up negotiations, the union recently set up a Google multinational working committee for EU countries, including Britain and Switzerland, which is expected to come in and use in about six months.。Waley said this represented "a huge change" as it meant the company would later have to give employees more notice of the restructuring in advance.。The European Working Committee will be made up of representatives of Google employees for a four-year term.。The council members will liaise with Google management, which is based in Dublin, according to the documents.。

Parul Koul, executive chairman of Alphabet Workers Union and a software engineer at Google in New York, said that although the different treatment standards have not caused friction among Google employees distributed around the world, people have realized that "the situation in the United States is different from that in France and Germany."。

Another Silicon Valley giant did just that.。Amazon is understood to have tried to get some of its top executives there to resign by hanging up wages for up to a year and allowing departing employees to take furloughs so their shares could vest and be handed out as bonuses.。

Specifically, Amazon has about 1,500 office employees in Paris, and some senior executives with between five and eight years of experience can receive up to a year's salary compensation if they are removed.。And departing employees can take so-called "gardening leave" until May, when Amazon's stock will vest and be paid out as a bonus.。

At Amazon's German branch, a person familiar with the matter said the company had begun firing employees who were still on probation and had made a proposal to leave voluntarily.。

According to a person familiar with the matter, in Luxembourg, Amazon's departing employees receive one month's salary for each year of service, and the additional salary is regulated by national law.。The person added that the layoff offer started in the middle of last month and people will leave on April 1 or June 1, depending on whether they have chosen a two-month window for internal job hunting.。

Amazon CEO (Andy Jassy said in January that the company will communicate with affected employees or, where applicable, with employee representative bodies。