Real estate is just a slog. It takes years to build new office space. Lease opportunities come up on weird schedules and tend to be long-term too. They're likely offloading the space they started acquiring pre-COVID, or in the first year of (when the industry was hiring like crazy), because they're not optimistic about being able to fill it any time soon.
They could probably spread things out instead, but real estate is stupidly expensive, and Google was never known for spacious accommodations (maybe except for some remote offices). I can't imagine they have any motivation to spend more if their approach worked fine for more over a decade.
I don't love it, but how many applicants walked away because of cramped open spaces? How many top performers quit for that reason? We just put up with it.
They could probably spread things out instead, but real estate is stupidly expensive, and Google was never known for spacious accommodations (maybe except for some remote offices). I can't imagine they have any motivation to spend more if their approach worked fine for more over a decade.
I don't love it, but how many applicants walked away because of cramped open spaces? How many top performers quit for that reason? We just put up with it.