In the midst of mass tech companies layoffs, Adobe has funded construction for a new-18-story building that accommodates 4,000 employees.
Adobe’s new building, Founders Tower, is located at 345 Park ave. in Downtown San Jose, according to a March 8 blog post by the company.
Ahmed Banafa, San Jose State engineering professor and tech expert, said tech companies hired more staff as they shifted to a remote workforce because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He said, because more people moved back to working in person, sizable corporations, including Microsoft and Meta, now have excess staff with less demand for online services and have to make large cuts to their workforces.
Banafa said he calls the mass layoff event “the great reset” as these companies are returning to a pre-pandemic workforce.
“During the pandemic, companies like Facebook, they doubled the headcount, and Google added 50% at the top of it . . . they kept hiring people in 2020, 2021, 2022,” Banafa said. “It's all based on the perception and the anticipation of the fact that the demand for the online services and advertisements will continue “
He said Adobe and Apple were two companies that didn’t need to lay off as many employees as other tech giants.
“[Adobe and Apple] look at it in perspective,” Banafa said. “[They] are not going to hire based on what's possibly going to happen after the pandemic.”
Apple recently laid off a small number of corporate retail positions, according to an April 3 Bloomberg article.
Adobe has had no mass layoffs, and the company stated it won’t be performing them this year, according to a March 8 Bloomberg article.
Adobe also has had a direct impact on SJSU’s campus, as students have access to the company’s Creative Cloud, a set of different Adobe applications.
All currently enrolled students, faculty members and staff and administration have access to the cloud, according to the university’s website.
Provost Vincent Del Casino Jr. said the company has had an amazing impact on SJSU as nearly 20,000 Adobe licenses have been distributed to train faculty and engage students.
“These programs help students develop their digital and creative literacy skills in any program on campus,” Del Casino said. “This is incredibly valuable as we continue to see the importance of student knowledge of multimedia strategies as they enter almost every sector of the economy or continue their education.”
He said the California State University system and Adobe have an agreement to provide the Creative Cloud as a resource for students across California.
“SJSU has had a long-standing relationship with Adobe, as has the California State University, which signed a system-wide agreement to provide Adobe Creative Cloud to faculty, staff and students on all the campuses,” Del Casino said. “SJSU has a unique relationship with Adobe as one of their first creative campuses in the system and as a recipient of funding through their Adobe For All program.”
Adobe For All In Action is a program led by the company to support Hispanic-Serving Institutions and historically Black colleges and universities, according to its website.
Carlos Velazquez, the public information manager for the City of San Jose’s office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs, said Adobe paid $5,702,271 for the full cost of construction and planning for Founders Tower.
He said Adobe has been contributing to the community, as the company announced a “hometown commitment” by providing $2 million to eight San Jose nonprofits, according to a March 8 SiliconValley.com article.
“Adobe is a key partner and employer in Downtown San Jose with 2,500 employees,” Velazquez said. “They also support the community, recently announcing $2 million total by the Adobe Foundation to support several community organizations.”
