Google plans to hire 10,000 workers in four cities over the next five years, with a focus on recruiting Black talent as part of the company's racial equity commitment announced in June.
The company declined to say how many positions will be in each city or the types of roles that will be filled, but said it will start hiring 1,000 workers across its Chicago, New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. offices by next year.
In a company blog post Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the technology giant will increase diversity goals for its workforce, suppliers and entrepreneurial partnerships .
Google plans to more than double the number of Black employee by 2025, Pichai said. In June, the company announced it would improve representation of underrepresented groups in senior level positions by 30% by 2025.
In Chicago, Google has more than 1,300 employees at its 50,000-square-foot office space in the city's Fulton Market district.
The Tribune in November reported Google was close to a huge expansion of its Chicago real estate footprint, in which the tech giant sought to add an additional 800,000 square feet in two buildings Sterling Bay planned to develop. But those deals were never completed, and Google backed off the plans earlier this year during the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the plans.
It's unclear whether Google might eventually revisit those deals with Sterling Bay, at 345 N. Morgan St. and 1000 W. Carroll Ave., or instead seek out space in other office buildings under construction in the former meatpacking neighborhood.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the future of the company's office space in Chicago.
