Bay Area firm Google reportedly tells workers to share desks
Google employees in one key division will have one fewer day in the office a week, with an alleged trade-off: Other people will work at their desks.
Citing “real estate efficiency,” Google has told Google Cloud employees to share their desks and alternate the days they come into the office or be relegated to “overflow drop-in space,” according to a Wednesday report from CNBC. The Bay Area tech giant announced in early February that it would be consolidating office space across the globe, following a January decision to lay off 12,000 total employees.
“Most Googlers will now share a desk with one other Googler,” said the internal document obtained by CNBC. “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.”
Employees will alternate the two days a week they come in, CNBC reported, which is a pullback from an earlier three-day requirement. Presumably, a pair of desk buddies will trade off days. The company will also cap conference room availability, the report said.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the model will apply in Google Cloud’s San Francisco and Sunnyvale offices, as well as its New York City location and its sites in Seattle and Kirkland, Washington. The spokesperson did not clarify if this shift will later affect other divisions of Google or Alphabet.
Google Cloud makes up a fourth of Google’s full-time workforce — but the product straggles behind the extremely profitable Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure in market share. Google Cloud, which builds internet infrastructure products for the likes of Target, Goldman Sachs and Major League Baseball, lost around $480 million in the last reported quarter.
Google’s spokesperson told SFGATE that the company has run pilots and conducted surveys with Cloud employees to test different hybrid work models.
“Our data show Cloud Googlers value guaranteed in-person collaboration when they are in the office, as well as the option to work from home a few days each week,” the spokesperson said. “With this feedback, we’ve developed our new rotational model, combining the best of pre-pandemic collaboration with the flexibility and focus we’ve all come to appreciate from remote work, while also allowing us to use our spaces more efficiently.”
Hear of anything going on at Google or another tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
Google employees in one key division will have one fewer day in the office a week, with an alleged trade-off: Other people will work at their desks.
Citing “real estate efficiency,” Google has told Google Cloud employees to share their desks and alternate the days they come into the office or be relegated to “overflow drop-in space,” according to a Wednesday report from CNBC. The Bay Area tech giant announced in early February that it would be consolidating office space across the globe, following a January decision to lay off 12,000 total employees.
“Most Googlers will now share a desk with one other Googler,” said the internal document obtained by CNBC. “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.”
Employees will alternate the two days a week they come in, CNBC reported, which is a pullback from an earlier three-day requirement. Presumably, a pair of desk buddies will trade off days. The company will also cap conference room availability, the report said.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the model will apply in Google Cloud’s San Francisco and Sunnyvale offices, as well as its New York City location and its sites in Seattle and Kirkland, Washington. The spokesperson did not clarify if this shift will later affect other divisions of Google or Alphabet.
Google Cloud makes up a fourth of Google’s full-time workforce — but the product straggles behind the extremely profitable Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure in market share. Google Cloud, which builds internet infrastructure products for the likes of Target, Goldman Sachs and Major League Baseball, lost around $480 million in the last reported quarter.
Google’s spokesperson told SFGATE that the company has run pilots and conducted surveys with Cloud employees to test different hybrid work models.
“Our data show Cloud Googlers value guaranteed in-person collaboration when they are in the office, as well as the option to work from home a few days each week,” the spokesperson said. “With this feedback, we’ve developed our new rotational model, combining the best of pre-pandemic collaboration with the flexibility and focus we’ve all come to appreciate from remote work, while also allowing us to use our spaces more efficiently.”
Hear of anything going on at Google or another tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
