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Workers at Kaiser Permanente’s administrative offices in Pleasanton have been hit with a series of layoffs over the past year as the company seeks to reduce costs, with the most recent round consisting of dozens of information technology positions being slashed.
A spokesperson for the health care company told Embarcadero Media that officials had recently eliminated 51 IT positions, including 33 in the past two months that were included in data from the state’s Employment Development Department.
“It is important to note that none of these changes will affect the quality of Kaiser Permanente’s patient care and service, which is always our primary focus,” Kaiser officials told Embarcadero Media. “In addition, no union-represented employees were affected by this change.”
The latest round of cuts brings the total of permanent layoffs at the company’s Pleasanton office since November to 162, with 49 layoffs effective as of April 26, 41 effective as of Jan. 4, and 21 effective as of Nov. 11, 2023 according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) data from the EDD through June 19, along with the additional 18 layoffs disclosed by Kaiser officials Wednesday.
“We do not make these tough decisions lightly, and appreciate the individuals affected by these staffing changes have made important contributions to Kaiser Permanente,” Kaiser officials said. “We are committed to helping them transition into other roles within Kaiser Permanente or where necessary will provide generous severance packages, career support and outplacement services.”
The layoffs come amid the implementation of another cost-cutting move announced by the company last March, in which officials said that the decision to shift 10% of the administrative workforce at its Oakland offices to Pleasanton starting this year would both benefit employees and reduce administrative spending for the company.
Kaiser officials emphasized that both the recent layoffs and the decision to shift workers to Pleasanton impact administrative workers only rather than health care workers on the ground in its medical facilities.
Although the company’s locations across the state have also seen some layoffs over the past year, the 41 layoffs effective in Pleasanton starting January and the 49 effective as of April are the largest cuts to Kaiser workers across the state between July 1, 2023 and June 19 according to EDD data.