Chevron is continuing to chip away at its local workforce as the latest step in the downsizing of its corporate presence in the Tri-Valley since trading in its former headquarters for a smaller office space, then shifting to Texas as its primary hub.
A total of 68 workers at the company’s San Ramon offices were laid off effective Oct. 23, according to data from the state’s Employment Development Department, with the company estimating a total of 100 local layoffs in a letter to the state earlier this year.
“Chevron remains committed to supporting affected employees through this transition,” Chevron officials said in their letter to the EDD on Aug. 22.
“We are providing severance pay, medical continuation coverage, access to education and training resources, and outplacement assistance,” they continued. “All employees will receive at least 60 days’ advance notice of their final day of employment.”
The 68 positions cut in the latest round of layoffs range from analysts, engineers and administrative roles in a variety of departments, including seven senior management positions.
Earlier this year, the company laid off 600 employees in San Ramon effective June 1 as part of its goal “to simplify our organizational structure, execute faster and more effectively, and position the company for stronger long-term competitiveness”.
“This means we will have fewer positions and unfortunately, fewer people,” Chevron officials said in a letter to the state on March 27.
While the company said during its move to Texas last year that the San Ramon office would continue to host some support staff, this year’s hundreds of layoffs are part of an ongoing effort to reduce its workforce by 15% to 20% by the end of next year in order to reduce expenses by $2 billion to $3 billion.
The continued downsizing comes after the company relocated its headquarters from San Ramon to Houston. At the time of the move, Chevron officials said that the San Ramon offices hosted approximately 2,000 workers, with nearly 700 jobs having been axed since then.
Chevron was San Ramon’s top employer at one point, but has since been eclipsed by PG&E as of the most recent data from the city. According to that data, Chevron is now the second top employer with 1,500 employees, down from 3,460 as of the city’s previous report.
Chevron’s presence in the city had already become less prominent years before the move to Texas, when it sold the sprawling Chevron Park campus at 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road back to Sunset Development in 2022 and moved into its current office space.
That site is now slated for redevelopment into the 2,500-unit, mixed-use Orchards project envisioned by Sunset as an extension of the city’s growing downtown neighborhood, with formal development plans submitted to the city earlier this year.
