(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Google announced that it would be cutting back on needless expenses—such as office micro-kitchens, cafés and fitness classes—in an attempt to reduce costs, much to the chagrin of its employees.
Earlier this year, the company fired 12,000 employees as the tech giant found itself in a financially precarious situation, the Daily Wire reported.
A recent memo sent by Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat detailed the situation, stating that between the “challenging economic environment” and the company’s “incredible investment opportunities to drive technology forward,” Google must reconsider the way its spends money.
“Cafes, MicroKitchens and other facilities will be tailored to better match how and when they are being used. Decisions will be based on data,” Porat explained.
“For example, where a cafe is seeing a significantly lower volume of use on certain days, we’ll close it on those days and put more focus instead on popular options that are close by,” she continued. “Similarly, we’ll consolidate MicroKitchens in buildings where we’re seeing more waste than value.”
Employees’ access to fitness classes, company shuttles and other amenities also will be limited, based on use.
In the initial round of layoffs, 31 massage therapists and 21 members of the Trust and Safety Department were let go, along with the “Diversity Manager” and a “Diversity Specialist,” Porat said in the memo.
“Just as we did in 2008, we’ll be looking at data to identify other areas of spending that aren’t as effective as they should be, or that don’t scale at our size,” she added. “We will let Googlers know of any other changes that directly impact services they use.”
Google is not the only tech company looking to cut back on both staff and expensive amenities.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk laid off hundreds of Twitter employees and auctioned off several of the company’s luxury items—espresso machines, rotisserie ovens, commercial blenders, braising pans, pizza ovens and more.
Mainstream media companies such as Buzzfeed, Disney and CNN made sweeping layoffs earlier this year, citing losses due to high operating costs.
