At Google’s $2.1 billion Chelsea campus in New York City, employees showed up to find their offices temporarily closed. The reason wasn’t a tech glitch or security scare—it was bedbugs. The infestation forced the company to pause work at one of its most high-profile buildings and drew plenty of attention for all the wrong reasons.
How It All Started
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On Sunday, October 19, 2025, employees got an email. The company’s environmental, health, and safety team had hired exterminators and a sniffer dog that found “credible evidence” of bedbugs in the Chelsea campus buildings. Employees were ordered to stay home while the treatment went on. Google also inspected its other New York sites to ensure they were safe. Surprisingly, this is not Google’s first run-in with bedbugs in Manhattan. In 2010, their 9th Avenue offices were part of a bigger city-wide outbreak.
Bedbugs don’t care about glass walls or chic furniture. They hitch rides on luggage, clothes, or even through walls. This is also happening at an awkward moment: Many companies are bringing people back into offices more post-2020 pandemic, including Google, which scaled back its “Work From Anywhere” policy in 2025. So, this bedbug scare hits at a tricky moment.
Big City, Big Problem
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New York City is no stranger to bedbugs. In fact, the city once ranked near the top in the United States cities for infestations. That being said, there’s some good news: a recent report by pest control company Orkin shows NYC dropped from second worst to 15th worst for bedbug problems. Still, it doesn’t make corporate campuses immune. Facing these critters in an office environment creates business headaches. Thankfully, Google’s swift campus lockdown shows they take that seriously.
It Can Happen to Any Organization
Even gold-plated corporate campuses are vulnerable. For companies bringing staff back, this case is a reminder: you’ve got the design, the perks, the bean-bags, but you must also ensure that basics like pest-control protocols are up to date. If you skip them, the story goes viral. In this case, it’s the tech giant’s turn to deal with bugs.