SAP is laying off 82 Palo Alto employees as part of a global plan for steady, annual job cuts that one executive compared to “brushing your teeth.” (Daniel Roland/Associated Press)
SAP America, the U.S. arm of German software giant SAP, laid off 82 employees at its Palo Alto offices, according to a state filing.
The permanent job cuts, disclosed in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification dated Oct. 6, will take effect Nov. 21 at the company’s research facility at 3410 Hillview Ave. in Santa Clara County.
The Palo Alto site is part of SAP’s global Labs Network, a network of research and development hubs in more than 20 countries focused on artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data analytics.
SAP also operates Bay Area locations in San Francisco and San Ramon, while its U.S. headquarters is based in Pennsylvania.
The layoffs come amid a broader, multiyear restructuring effort as SAP looks to streamline operations and redirect investment toward emerging technologies.
Earlier this year, the company said it would shift from large-scale reductions to smaller, continuous job cuts – roughly 1% to 2% of its global workforce each year – as part of its “continuous optimization” strategy.
“It won’t be anything special,” Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam told the German newspaper Handelsblatt, saying the annual job reductions are “like brushing your teeth.”
Employee representatives have voiced concern that the approach could cause “long-term damage” and prioritize short-term financial gains.
SAP executives, however, maintain that the strategy is necessary to keep pace with rapid changes in the tech industry.
“As our industry undergoes a profound transformation driven by AI and cloud, we are focused on the continuous optimization of our processes and strategic investments in future capabilities,” the company said in a statement.
SAP employs about 109,000 people worldwide. The company’s layoffs last year affected roughly 10,000 positions globally.
This article originally published at SAP cuts dozens of Bay Area jobs as part of new layoff strategy.