In another reduction to its global workforce, Google plans to lay off hundreds of workers in the Bay Area this year, with Mountain View experiencing the brunt of the job cuts.
The layoffs will impact approximately 702 employees in Mountain View, San Francisco and Sunnyvale, according to state filings that were reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. More than half of the eliminated positions are planned for Mountain View.
On Jan. 10, Google sent a letter to the city announcing its intentions to lay off 364 workers on its product, design and engineering teams. The layoffs will occur between the months of March and October, impacting employees in offices on Charleston Road, Amphitheater Parkway, Crittenden Lane and Sterling Court.
Google also plans to close down all four of its Bay Area child care centers, two of which are located in Mountain View. The closure of one of the centers at 325 Gladys Ave. will result in the layoff of 73 workers, according to the state filing.
The tech giant described the layoffs as part of ongoing organizational and priority changes that have been happening since last year and will continue well into 2024.
“Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to the Mountain View voice.
Google made sweeping job cuts last year, eliminating 12,000 positions in January. Since then, periodic layoffs have been occurring in the company’s tech, recruiting and news divisions.
Along with job cuts, Google's development plans in the Bay Area have also been in flux in recent months. Last November, it announced it had parted ways with its real estate developer, Lendlease, that was involved with two massive housing and office projects in Mountain View – the North Bayshore Master Plan and Middlefield Park Master Plan. Last April, reports surfaced that Google was delaying a megaproject in San Jose.
Comments
Registered user
Ventura
on Jan 12, 2024 at 10:26 am
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2024 at 10:26 am
"Google also plans to close down all four of its Bay Area child care centers, two of which are located in Mountain View." What a low blow to working families and especially women who disproportionately bear the burden of inadequate child care in the U.S. All the more reason for all of us to redouble our support for high quality child care centers like PACCC.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Jan 12, 2024 at 10:49 am
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2024 at 10:49 am
Google is building a massive complex in the Moffatt Park area that is as big as a football stadium. I have noted the progress from the back side on trips to that city dump. I then drove around to the front end and it has a massive front with columns. Asked the work crew what it was - GOOGLE. With a building that size you can say goodby to the many small buildings that they have all over the place. Check it out - you cannot miss it.
Registered user
Green Acres
on Jan 12, 2024 at 11:38 am
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2024 at 11:38 am
It has been clear for quite awhile that the wellbeing of their employees and their families was not their priority.
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Jan 12, 2024 at 11:45 am
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2024 at 11:45 am
"It has been clear for quite awhile that the wellbeing of their employees and their families was not their priority."
And their users as shown by their recent legal settlements re their deceptive practices re location data and incognito mode. And of course their settlements with tens of thousands of workers and contractors for systematic pay discrimination against women and minorities.
Registered user
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jan 12, 2024 at 12:01 pm
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2024 at 12:01 pm
Note to the author: please follow this developing story. There will be a variety of local impacts. From real estate, renting, to the local economy, etc., etc., this is impactful here. Thank you.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 12, 2024 at 2:20 pm
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2024 at 2:20 pm
...and how will this affect housing demand? Is anyone tracking that and informing ABAG and the state? Forcing cities to spend budget and staff resources to expand housing to meet projected high levels of demand that may no longer be real should be revisited. These changes, may require quick pivots , moving resources to meet new needs. Pivoting is not the State's forte.
This is the fundamental problem with the State mandating local land use decisions. They move VERY slowly on policy change, and they are too far away to even be able to see short-term trends that affect local needs in order to be responsive. Further, I bet developers will be more reluctant to propose housing projects given this news. Without proposals, cities can't meet housing quotas. The legislation has serious repercussions for cities that fail to comply by deadline. Well intended, but very poorly crafted legislation. Single-minded zealotry rarely yields good legislation.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 12, 2024 at 4:53 pm
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2024 at 4:53 pm
This may mean that it will ease the housing crunch, but it will definitely add to the childcare crunch. From those I know looking for good childcare and preschools, you basically have to book them as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed!
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Jan 12, 2024 at 5:49 pm
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2024 at 5:49 pm
"..and how will this affect housing demand? Is anyone tracking that and informing ABAG and the state? Forcing cities to spend budget and staff resources to expand housing to meet projected high levels of demand that may no longer be real should be revisited"
Great points. Of course it should all be revisited but the state has refused reconsider ANYTHING for 8 -- EIGHT -- years in the face of new economic realities like all the tech layoffs and the budget surplus becoming a huge deficit largely because the state is so heavily depending on capital gains and a soaring tech sector -- to name just a few.
That's in part what the Huntington Beach lawsuit is about.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Jan 14, 2024 at 1:06 am
Registered user
on Jan 14, 2024 at 1:06 am
A strange set of circumstances as noted in the papers which showed the buildings that were going to be closed and number of people at those locations which would lose their jobs.
Note that Google is building a massive structure in the Moffat Park location. Follow Mathilda as it curves into Carribean to the entrance to the dump. The same road is leading to the entrance to a huge building which is now having the landscaping put in. It is getting ready for business. Google is moving out of Mountain View into Sunnyvale. There has to be a lot of reasons to do that - possible MV location is too close to the bay where the Sunnyvale location has the dump as a buffer to the bay.
Have to say that Sunnyvale and Moffat Park have huge buildings across many well know names while MV is a one company town. More tax advantages in Sunnyvale? More companies supporting the city? Better infrastructure in Sunnyvale? Close to the light rail so better transportation options. Close to Moffat Field where they have their planes. Why the people were laid off versus moving them to the new building is the critical question.