After lay-offs, Google plans office downsizing; asks employees to share desks

After laying-off employees, Google is pushing for more cost-cutting measures. In the latest move, the American multinational technology company has asked cloud employees and partners to share their desks and alternate days with their colleagues starting next quarter in a move to optimise "real estate efficiency,” stated reports.

The new desk-sharing model will apply to Google Cloud’s five largest US-based locations — Kirkland, Washington; New York City; San Francisco; Seattle; and Sunnyvale, California — and is happening so the company “can continue to invest in Cloud’s growth,” according to reports. Some buildings will be vacated as a result, the reports further stated.  

The cloud unit accounts for more than 25 per cent of Google's full-time workforce. 

Google is the latest to join the bandwagon of companies like Meta, Amazon, and Twitter to have laid-off its employees. While the companies have invited severe criticism for mass lay-offs, most of these companies have passed this off as cost-cutting measure.

Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) is planning a fresh round of job cuts in a reorganization and downsizing effort that could affect thousands of workers, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Last year, the social media company had let go 13 per cent of its workforce - more than 11,000 employees - as it grappled with soaring costs and a weak advertising market. 

Meta now plans to push some leaders into lower-level roles without direct reports, flattening the layers of management between top boss Mark Zuckerberg and the company's interns, the Washington Post reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.