BERKELEY, Calif. — Hundreds more layoffs affecting tech and life science jobs in the Bay Area have been disclosed by companies in what has morphed into a steady drumbeat of local staffing reductions in the wobbly sectors.
Affirm, Zendesk, Bayer U.S. and two subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson have revealed reductions that are affecting well over 300 jobs in the Bay Area, according to several WARN notices that have been filed with the state Employment Development Department.
The fresh disclosures of layoffs are hitting tech and life science jobs in Berkeley, Fremont and San Francisco,
All told, 331 Bay Area jobs are being chopped by the companies, the EDD WARN notices show.
Since mid-2022, tech and life science companies have revealed plans to chop at least 20,500 jobs in the Bay Area, this news organization’s review of WARN notices and posts on the EDD’s public site show.
These are the companies with the newly reported EDD WARN notices, including the number of jobs affected, and the cities where the layoffs are occurring, according to the EDD filings:
— Affirm, a tech-oriented financial services firm, 155 layoffs in San Francisco. Most of the employees were laid off on Feb. 15, although a few job cuts could occur by April 30.
— Zendesk, a software company, 84 job cuts in San Francisco. The layoffs occurred on Jan. 6, but were officially posted on Feb. 16 by the EDD.
— Bayer USA, 55 layoffs in Berkeley. The job cuts are due to begin by March 31 and should be completed by June 30.
— Johnson & Johnson units DePuy Synthes Products and Medical Device Business Services are cutting a combined 37 jobs at the same address in Fremont. The cutbacks are slated to begin on April 14 and be completed by April 27.
In all instances, the job cuts by the four companies were listed as permanent.
Other recent layoffs involving tech and life sciences job cuts in the Bay Area include NC Interactive, 4 jobs lost, San Mateo; Plastiq, 80 job cuts, San Francisco; ContextLogic, 47 layoffs, San Francisco; Twilio, 159 staff cuts, San Francisco; SAP America, 224 job cuts, Palo Alto and San Ramon; Microsoft, 108 layoffs, Mountain View and Santa Clara.
These are the 10 tech or biotech companies with the most job cuts in the Bay Area since July 1, 2022. The numbers are based on completed or upcoming staffing reductions:
— Meta Platforms (Facebook), 2,564 jobs in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Fremont, Sunnyvale and Burlingame
— Google, 1,608 positions in Mountain View, Moffett Field, San Bruno and Palo Alto
— Salesforce, 1,010 jobs in San Francisco
— Cepheid, 925 positions in Newark and Sunnyvale
— Twitter, 900 in San Francisco and San Jose
— Invitae, 736 in San Francisco
— Cisco Systems, 673 in San Jose, Milpitas and San Francisco
— Grocery Delivery E-Services USA (HelloFresh), 611 in Richmond
— Amazon, 524 in Sunnyvale and San Francisco
— Lam Research, 400 in Fremont and Livermore
Bayer, in its WARN filing, cited multiple occurrences that led to the staffing reductions and restructuring in Berkeley.
“These changes are the result of a number of factors including current global economic conditions and business demands,” Catherine Keck, an executive with Bayer Biotech Communications, wrote in a WARN letter to the EDD.
Other factors involve local initiatives in Berkeley, where Bayer is planning a major expansion of its campus — as well as the creation of new life science products.
“The transformation of our operations locally as we continue to deliver our current commercial portfolio while preparing for new modalities, particularly cell therapy product development and manufacturing” were among the local factors that Bayer cited in its WARN letter to the EDD.
