Google trims Bay Area jobs at offices it had leased a few years ago

The job cuts at the tech titan are a tiny fraction of the company’s previous Bay Area job cuts.

Google has announced plans to cut dozens of jobs in the Bay Area in a new round of layoffs — but these most recent reductions represent a tiny fraction of the layoffs announced by the tech titan earlier this year.

Based in Mountain View Google has decided to lay off 75 employees at two adjacent downtown San Francisco locations. The reductions are a new economic blow to the Bay Area’s second-largest city’s already fragile economy.

The layoffs are taking place at 199 and 215 Fremont Street.

According to the LoopNet commercial property listing service, Google leased 140,000 square feet in the 215 Fremont building in 2019, for a total of 373,900 square feet.

Google announced its decision to cut 1,608 jobs at various Bay Area locations in January 2023. Google laid off employees in Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Bruno, and Moffett Field in early 2023.

The most recent Google layoffs were detailed in an official WARN letter sent to the state Employment Development Department (EDD) by the search giant. The WARN notice for the layoff was dated September 13 and was received by the EDD on October 30.

The 75 Google layoffs in San Francisco will go into effect on November 25, according to the WARN letter. However, it’s possible that some of the layoffs started last Friday.

“Employee separations at the facilities resulting from this action are expected to occur between Oct. 27, 2023, and Nov. 25, 2023,” wrote Lindsey MacLean, vice president of Googler Experience, in the WARN notice.

Tech firms in the Bay Area have revealed plans to cut more than 29,200 jobs over a nearly two-year period spanning 2022 and the first ten months of 2023.

These and other job cuts are undeniably painful for those affected by the downsizing.

Nonetheless, the recent Google layoffs represent only 4.7% of the tech company’s 1,600-plus job cuts earlier this year.

“Separations resulting from this action are expected to be permanent,” Google wrote to the EDD in its WARN letter.

Google has provided details on the benefits available to affected employees.

“Affected employees will continue to receive any pay and benefits due to them as a Google employee, up until the termination of their employment,” MacLean stated in the letter to employees.

The Google layoffs come at a time when the San Francisco job market is at an all-time low.

The Bay Area lost 9,600 jobs in the last three months, from July to September.

However, the San Francisco area is even weaker, acting as a drag on the Bay Area job market as a whole.

The San Francisco-San Mateo region lost 14,800 jobs in the same three-month period.

In stark contrast, the South Bay lost only 2,000 jobs in July, August, and September, while the East Bay added 3,500 jobs during the same period.