Google selects Southaven location
Temporary office may open in Memphis
Months after announcing plans to open an operations center in northern Mississippi, Google has chosen a location.
The new office is expected to open inside a 60,000-square-foot building to be built on what is now a mostly empty lot at 5665 Airways Blvd., about a half mile north of Tanger Outlets in Southaven. Google will partner with Californiabased Panattoni Development to construct the site.
“This Google Operations Center represents a critical investment for the company and we look forward to being an active member of the local community for years to come,” said Troy Dickerson,
vice president of Google’s operations center division, in a written statement. “The new site will give us the opportunity to hire amazing local talent and we are confident that the Southaven community will be a great home for our Operations Center.”
Workers at the operations center will provide customer service, troubleshooting assistance and operational support for Google product users.
While the facility is expected to open next summer, Google is already hiring. About 100 new hires are expected before the end of this year. While much of Google’s workforce is still working remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic, a Google spokesperson said the company is considering opening a temporary Memphis office in case workers are able to return before the Southaven facility is complete. Because the need for a temporary office would depend on how much further the coronavirus spreads, no location or timeline for opening a Memphis office is available.
“Most of our employees are going to be working from home for the remainder of 2020,” a Google spokesperson said. When the plan for the operations center was first revealed in December, Google had announced plans to hire about 350 new employees. With uncertainty caused by COVID-19, Google said it will take a more conservative approach to hiring.
“We’re currently in the first phases of hiring, with the goal of getting 100 people hired by the end of this year,” the spokesperson said. “We don’t have any additional forward-looking numbers at this time... The company is taking a conservative approach to our future investments in light of COVID-19. We’re going to continue hiring based on the needs of the business but, right now, our goal is to get to 100 employees by the end of this year.”
Google said no tax breaks or other public incentives will be sought to help fund the project.
No salary information was shared but the company said new operations center employees will be entitled to Google benefits including medical coverage, paid vacation time, paid parental leave and other perks.
Recruitment is already underway for customer service associates, analysts and management positions. Detailed information about job requirements are listed on Google’s operations center jobs portal.
Desiree Stennett covers economic development and business at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.