Google has cut more than 1,800 jobs in California, including massage therapists

Google has cut more than 1,800 jobs in its home state of California as part of the largest round of layoffs in the company’s history.

On Friday, Alphabet-owned Google announced it was laying off 12,000 employees, roughly 6% of its full-time workforce. According to documents released by the state and reviewed by CNBC, 1,845 positions, or 15 percent of the cuts, were in California.

Most of the statewide staff cuts have occurred in and around the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley. About 1,436 jobs were cut in Mountain View, where Google is located, while 119 were in San Bruno, where YouTube is located. Palo Alto saw 53 cuts.

“The separation of employees at the Facilities as a result of this action is expected to begin on March 31, 2023,” the documents, which are dated Jan. 20, read.

A Google spokesperson told CNBC that the March date is due to a notice period required in California. WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) compels employers to give affected employees and state and local officials at least 60 days’ written notice “of any plant closing or mass layoff.”

Google’s initial message said the company would pay US employees “during the full notice period (minimum 60 days).”

More than a quarter of the affected roles in the Bay Area have “director” or “senior” in their titles. The layoffs also include 27 in-house massage therapists, including 24 in Mountain View and three in the Southern California markets of Los Angeles and Irvine.

A total of 177 layoffs took place in LA, mostly from the company’s Playa Vista campus. There were 60 layoffs in Irvine.

Alphabet braces for slowing growth and recession risks as the tech market adjusts to the end of a prolonged bull market. At a company-wide meeting Monday, CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the layoffs while fielding questions from employees who expressed concern about the future.

“I understand you’re worried about what’s next for your job,” Pichai said at the meeting. “Also very sad about the loss of some really good colleagues across the company.”

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