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Google is asking employees to share desks

As a part of downsizing, Google employees will soon have to share desks.

Donovan Erskine

February 23, 2023 8:50 AM

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Last month, Google was one of several tech companies to significantly cut back on jobs, laying off 12,000 employees. However, the company isn’t quite finished scaling back its business. As part of a new downsizing initiative, Google is also cutting back on physical office space. As a result, some Google employees will soon have to share desks with each other.

The downsizing at Google and the consequential desk-sharing was reported this week by CNBC. The changes are specifically affecting Google Cloud workers in Kirkland (Washington), New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Sunnyvale (California). According to an internal memo obtained by the outlet, these changes are happening so that Google “can continue to invest in Cloud’s growth.” Google is consolidating its physical space and will cease to use some of its office buildings as a result.

The idea is that Google employees who share a desk will come into office on alternating days, as to not occupy the space simultaneously. The employee that doesn’t come into the office will work from home. “Through the matching process, they will agree on a basic desk setup and establish norms with their desk partner and teams to ensure a positive experience in the new shared environment.”

Just like we saw with the rocky launch of Bard earlier this month, Google employees took to internal platform Memegen to share their thoughts on the move. “A simple ‘We are cutting office space to reduce costs’ would make leadership sound more believable,” one comment reads. Employees have criticized the company’s framing of recent changes as being good for workers.

The decision to have employees share desk is just the latest controversial move at Google, the company that brought in $76 billion in revenue in Q4 2022. For all of the biggest news stories in the business world, Shacknews has you taken care of.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_