Amazon may eliminate approximately 14,000 manager positions by early 2025, potentially saving up to $3 billion per year, according to a recent Morgan Stanley analysis. This move aligns with CEO Andy Jassy's goal to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of Q1 2025. Jassy aims to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of Q1 2025. These changes are part of Amazon's broader effort to "operate like the world's largest startup," with Jassy emphasising the need for "strong urgency, high ownership, fast decision-making, scrappiness and frugality, deeply-connected collaboration."
The estimate, according to Morgan Stanley, suggests that Amazon could reduce its management workforce from about 105,770 to 91,936 globally. This reduction would result in annual cost savings between $2.1 billion and $3.6 billion, representing 3% to 5% of Amazon's projected 2025 operating profit.
Amazon confirmed to Business Insider that it has "added a lot of managers" recently and believes "now is the right time" to make this change. The company stated that every team will review their structure, and it's "possible" that some roles may be eliminated.
The restructuring aims to remove unnecessary organisational layers and improve Amazon's agility by reducing bureaucratic hurdles. However, the company has not committed to specific job cuts, suggesting that the ratio change could potentially be achieved through other methods, such as reassigning managers to new roles.
Morgan Stanley's analysis assumes that 7% of Amazon's workforce holds management positions, with an estimated annual cost per manager between $200,000 and $350,000. The investment bank views this potential move as a significant opportunity for Amazon to enhance its operational efficiency.
The global IT industry is rapidly evolving, driven by technological advancements such as AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. As the demand for specialized skills grows, IT professionals are grappling with a widening skills gap that threatens their competitiveness in the global market.
The IT Skills Gap: A Growing Challenge for Indian IT Professionals
According to the Economic Survey 2024, only 51.25% of Indian youth are employable, leaving nearly half of the workforce ill-prepared to meet industry demands.
The India Skill Report 2024 has revealed a significant mismatch between the skills of Indian IT graduates and industry demands. The report highlights a 60%-73% demand-supply gap in critical roles such as machine learning engineers, data scientists, DevOps engineers, and data architects.
This gap shows the disconnect between academic training and the evolving needs of the IT sector. If unaddressed, this skills disparity could hamper the growth of India’s IT industry and reduce its capacity to drive economic development, limiting the country’s potential in the global technology landscape.
The Numbers Behind the Skills Gap
This skills mismatch has resulted in a staggering 3,00,000 unfilled positions across major IT companies in India. According to a Times of India article, TCS alone accounts for 80,000 open positions, representing 13% of its workforce.
Other leading IT firms are also grappling with similar challenges, with a significant number of vacancies. Assuming 10% of their workforce is affected by the skills gap, the estimated open positions are as follows:
Accenture (35,000), Infosys (35,000), Wipro (25,000), HCLTech (25,000), Capgemini (25,000), Cognizant (25,000), Tech Mahindra (15,000), LTIMindtree (8,000), Mphasis (3,000), L&T Technology Services (3,000), and Persistent Systems (3,000).
Note: This is based on the editor’s estimation, not confirmed data from the companies.
Bridging the Gap: The Need for Skill Development
Addressing this skills gap requires a focus on reskilling and upskilling initiatives to align Indian IT professionals with the evolving needs of the global industry.
Collaboration between academia, government, and industry is essential to develop more relevant educational programs.
With major companies holding thousands of open positions, filling these roles will be crucial not only for individual career growth but also for maintaining India’s leadership in the global IT sector.
Key Metrics
Unfilled Positions: 3,00,000 across major IT companies
TCS Open Positions: 80,000 (13% of workforce)
Employability: Only 51.25% of Indian youth are readily employable
Referencessights in plus
U.S. tech giant Cisco has let go of thousands of employees following its second layoff of 2024.
The technology and networking company announced in August that it would reduce its headcount by 7%, or around 5,600 employees, following an earlier layoff in February, in which the company let go of about 4,000 employees.
As TechCrunch previously reported, Cisco employees said that the company refused to say who was affected by the layoffs until September 16. Cisco did not give a reason for the month-long delay in notifying affected staff. One employee told TechCrunch at the time that Cisco’s workplace had become the “most toxic environment” they had worked in.
TechCrunch has learned that the layoffs also affect Talos Security, the company’s threat intelligence and security research unit.
Cisco said in its August statement that its second layoff of the year would allow the company to “invest in key growth opportunities and drive more efficiencies.” On the same day, Cisco published its most recent full-year earnings report, in which the company said 2024 was its “second strongest year on record,” citing close to $54 billion in annual revenue.
Cisco chief executive Chuck Robbins made close to $32 million in total executive compensation during 2023, according to the company’s filings.
When reached by email, Cisco spokesperson Lindsay Ciulla did not provide comment, or say if Cisco’s executive leadership team planned to reduce their compensation packages following the layoffs.
Are you affected by the Cisco layoffs? Get in touch. You can contact this reporter on Signal and WhatsApp at +1 646-755-8849, or by email. You can send files and documents via SecureDrop.
A look at Cisco’s response to the current economic climate and transition trajectory leading to significant layoffs:
Cisco’s focus on subscription-based services
Cisco's $28 billion acquisition of Splunk in March signals a strategic shift towards subscription-based services. This move marked a significant shift for Cisco, traditionally known for networking equipment, as it entered the competitive cybersecurity market alongside players like Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, CrowdStrike, and Microsoft, as ET followed this development.
Cisco’s funding to AI startups
Since 2018, Cisco has been actively involved in the AI space, acquiring Accompany and CloudCherry to expand its presence in this rapidly growing technology. In 2019, the company launched the Silicon One ASIC chip, offering speeds of 25.6 Tbit/s, directly competing with Intel and Nvidia.
Cisco has allocated $1 billion to fund AI startups.
Earlier in February, Cisco partnered with Nvidia. The latter agreed to use Cisco's ethernet with its own technology that is widely used in data centers and AI applications. In June, Cisco invested in AI startups like Cohere, Mistral AI, and Scale AI. The company announced that it had made 20 acquisitions and investments related to AI in recent years.
Focus on emerging technologies
Cisco offers data center technologies like the Unified Computing System (UCS) and Nexus switches, designed to support modern data center and cloud environments. Additionally, their collaboration tools, such as WebEx and Cisco Jabber, enhance communication and productivity.
Shifting focus on cybersecurity
Since 2013, with the acquisition of Sourcefire, a network security and threat detection provider Cisco strengthened its security portfolio. Open DNS acquired in 2015, provides cloud based threat detection and prevention. CloudLock, a cloud security solutions provider for $293 million protects users and data in cloud environments. Duo Security, for $2.35 billion, provides cloud based authentication and access control.
Meet my new secretary, ChatGPT. Over the last couple of weeks, tied up by several unending writing projects, I’ve done what I once deemed unthinkable. I’ve found myself going to ChatGPT — OpenAI’s artificial intelligence bot — for everything from proof-reading and copy-editing to research and review.
I most certainly realise that I’m quite late to the chase. A lot of my friends have been employing ChatGPT for ages now to write and draft all sorts of documents. But I’m a bit of a purist writer, to be honest. I’ve always believed that words are deeply personal. If you’re writing a letter, email or essay, every word ought to come from your heart -- not from digital algorithms operating mysteriously. Admittedly, therefore, I still don’t use ChatGPT to do any of my actual writing (I assure you this column has not been written by ChatGPT).
But as I began using ChatGPT, I realised why I had previously been afraid of it. This thing is addictive and eerily efficient. It understands more about the world than I was led to believe. It reads and writes rapidly. And I hate to say this, but it can do a lot of the work that so many of us get paid to do -- for free.
To be sure, none of this makes AI all that different from the world’s previous tech revolutions. Every time a new machine has been invented, fear has followed.
In 1830, Britain was about to flag off the world’s first passenger train to run between Liverpool and Manchester. Among the railroad project’s most ardent supporters was a local Member of Parliament, William Huskisson. In the run-up to the railway’s grand opening, Huskisson had just undergone surgery and was advised by his doctor to cancel all upcoming appointments. Huskisson refused. The train’s debut was far too important an occasion, he argued.
It was a fateful decision. On the big day, as the train’s demo got underway, Huskisson walked across the tracks to shake hands with Prime Minister Arthur Wellesley. Then, disaster struck. Before he knew it, Huskisson saw the train barreling down towards him as he watched in horror. His feet got stuck in the tracks and the MP was knocked out clean.
In the aftermath of the accident, much British press coverage of the event naturally dwelt on Huskisson’s tragic death. Writers shuddered at the thought of speedy steam engines mowing down people all over England.
But something else also happened: the train cut down the usual travel time between Liverpool and Manchester to less than half. Soon, the railway became the cornerstone of Britain’s Industrial Revolution and powered the most extensive and influential empire the world has ever seen.
AI has the potential for such pathbreaking efficiencies, too, but it could also change the nature of work in unprecedented ways.
Previous tech revolutions had replaced relatively lower income and lower skilled jobs. In return, several more jobs were created further up the ladder. Trains, for instance, rendered horse carriages obsolete. But over time, the sons of carriage-drivers learnt to operate steam engines, and the economic pie expanded on the whole.
What sets AI apart is that it is also upending higher income, higher skilled jobs. That means that while economic activity might expand, the jobs that AI is likely to create will be far more skill-heavy and potentially fewer in number. Those at the top will benefit disproportionately. The masses below will have few opportunities.
To make the most of this new beast, governments will have to find ways to preempt that inequality. Otherwise, millions could risk getting their feet caught in its tracks.
SynopsisTech companies cut over 27,000 jobs in August 2024, with major firms like Intel, IBM, and Cisco among those announcing layoffs. Intel plans to reduce its workforce by 15%, while Cisco is shifting focus to AI and cybersecurity. IBM is discontinuing R&D in China. Other companies like Infineon, GoPro, Apple, Dell Technologies, ReshaMandi, Brave, and ShareChat also announced significant job cuts.
Tech companies continued to cut jobs at a rapid pace in August 2024. More than 27,000 workers in the industry lost their jobs as over 40 companies, including big names like Intel, IBM, and Cisco, as well as numerous smaller startups, announced layoffs. To date, more than 136,000 tech workers have been laid off by 422 companies in 2024, indicating significant upheaval in the sector.
Intel
Intel is undergoing one of the most challenging periods in its history, announcing 15,000 job cuts, which represents over 15% of its workforce. These layoffs are part of a $10 billion spending reduction plan for 2025, spurred by a disappointing second-quarter earnings report and outlook. Annual revenues for the company fell by $24 billion between 2020 and 2023, despite a 10% increase in its workforce during the same time frame. CEO Pat Gelsinger stated, "Intel’s revenue growth shortfall is attributed to high costs and low margins, despite our leadership in the CPU chip revolution 25 years ago."
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems has also announced it is laying off around 6,000 employees, or about 7% of its global workforce, as it shifts its focus to high-growth areas such as AI and cybersecurity. This is the company's second major round of job cuts this year. CEO Chuck Robbins remains hopeful about the future, noting efforts to pivot toward emerging technologies. "Cisco is optimistic about rebounding demand for our networking equipment," he said. The company is restructuring to capitalize on these technologies and has committed $1 billion to investing in AI startups. Additionally, Cisco recently acquired cybersecurity firm Splunk for $28 billion. As part of the restructuring, Cisco plans to consolidate its networking, security, and collaboration departments into a single organization.
IBM
IBM has decided to discontinue its research and development operations in China, leading to over 1,000 layoffs. Chinese media outlet Yicai reported on the situation, which stems from a decline in demand for IT hardware and difficulties in expanding within the Chinese market. IBM pledged that despite these changes, customer support in China will remain unaffected. "IBM will now prioritize serving private enterprises and select multinationals within the Chinese market," the company affirmed.
Infineon
Infineon, a German chipmaker, is also making significant cuts, with plans to reduce 1,400 jobs and relocate another 1,400 to countries with lower labor costs. CEO Jochen Hanebeck explained these measures were necessary due to third-quarter revenue falling short of expectations. "The slow recovery in target markets is due to prolonged weak economic momentum and excess inventory levels," he said, leading to a downgraded forecast for the third time in recent months.
GoPro
GoPro, the action camera manufacturer, will cut about 15% of its staff, totaling around 140 employees, as part of a restructuring plan. These layoffs aim to reduce operating expenses by $50 million from projected fiscal 2024 expenses.
Apple
Apple has laid off around 100 employees primarily from its services group, which includes the Apple Books app and Apple Bookstore teams, with some engineering roles also affected. The company is redirecting resources toward AI programs, seeing Apple Books as a lower priority now. However, Apple News remains a focal point. This is not Apple's first round of layoffs this year; previously, it cut 600 employees from its Special Projects Group and shuttered a 121-person AI team in San Diego in January. As of the last report, Apple had 161,000 full-time equivalent employees. Apple declined to comment on the latest layoffs.
Dell Technologies
Dell Technologies is reportedly reorganizing its sales teams, including establishing a new AI-focused group. Sales executives Bill Scannell and John Byrne mentioned in a memo that Dell aims to become leaner by streamlining management and reprioritizing investments. Rumors suggest that the company may have laid off about 12,500 employees, or 10% of its global workforce, but this has not been officially confirmed.
ReshaMandhi
ReshaMandi, a fabric startup based in Bengaluru, has laid off its entire workforce, according to sources cited by Entrackr. The company's website has been inactive for a week, coinciding with the resignation of its auditor. "It’s all over for ReshaMandi," a source said. "The company is struggling to pay liabilities and bear operational costs, including salaries, for the past several months."
Brave
Brave, a web browser and search startup, has laid off 27 employees across various departments, as confirmed by TechCrunch. This represents a 14% reduction from its estimated 191 employees. Brave previously cut 9% of its workforce in October 2023 due to cost management challenges in a difficult economic environment.
ShareChat
ShareChat, a social media company also based in Bengaluru, has cut around 30-40 jobs, or roughly 5% of its workforce, following a bi-annual performance review in August 2024.
[ Ref ]
# Tech industry layoffs are ongoing and widespread, impacting companies like Google, Tesla, and Apple.
# CEOs at big tech companies blame the cuts on overhiring and a shift towards a smaller workforce.
Layoffs have been plaguing the tech industry since the start of 2023 — and for many companies, the cuts have continued into 2024 and aren't over.
A number of Big Tech companies have laid off staff this year, including Google, Tesla, Apple, and dozens more. Ironically, companies haven't been slowing down on innovation, with many releasing a constant stream of AI updates and product launches.
Mark Zuckerberg shared his theory on the first round of industry-wide layoffs in an interview with "Morning Brew Daily" in February. He said companies overhired during the pandemic due to e-commerce sales skyrocketing and had to cut back once sales returned to normal.
That seems to ring true for a lot of CEOs. Discord CEO Jason Citron also said in an employee memo in January that the company had increased its workforce by fivefold since 2020. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in 2023 that the company experienced "dramatic growth" over the past two years, which led to hiring "for a different economic reality" than the present.
Salesforce CEO and cofounder Mark Benioff also relayed the same sentiment in a letter to employees announcing layoffs in 2023. He said as revenue increased during the pandemic, the company hired "too many people leading into this economic downturn."
But why are industry-wide layoffs still so widespread and ongoing?
We took a look at what CEOs have said about staff cuts to help us understand why it's still going on.
The less, the better
Zuckerberg said in the "Morning Brew Daily" interview that companies realized the benefits of being leaner, which led to more layoffs. Meta's an example of that — after thousands were cut in Zuckerberg's "year of efficiency," in 2023, the company appeared to make a comeback.
"It was obviously really tough. We parted with a lot of talented people we cared about," Zuckerberg said in the interview. "But in some ways, actually becoming leaner kind of makes the company more effective."
Google seems to be enacting a similar strategy this year. CEO Sundar Pichai told Bloomberg reporter Emily Chang in May that the company is removing some teams completely to "improve velocity."
The tech giant conducted multiple rounds of layoffs this year, with the most recent being in its Cloud unit at the end of May.
Wayfair's cofounders also seem to think the company operates better with fewer people. The company has conducted multiple rounds off layoffs since 2022 and most recently laid off 13% of its workforce in January.
CEO Niraj Shah and cofounder Steve Conine wrote in a letter to shareholders in February that several rounds of layoffs helped the company get more done at a faster rate and lower cost.
Jobs are being restructured for AI
Google's CEO also said in the Bloomberg interview in May that the company is "reallocating people" to its "highest priorities."
Some of those priorities include AI projects, like the creation of an ARM-based central processing unit, the advancement of Gemini, an AI-powered Search, and various updates to Google Workspace.
Google isn't the only one to restructure its workforce to make room for AI.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explained similar reasoning in a memo last year and said the company would continue to hire in "key strategic areas."
Last May, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said he could easily see 30% of HR and non-consumer-facing roles "replaced by AI and automation" in the next five years. The company conducted its latest round of cuts in March.
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston similarly said in a 2023 layoff announcement that its next stage of growth required a different set of skills, "particularly in AI and early-stage product development."
It's unclear how long the restructuring will last. But for the moment, tech companies don't seem to be slowing down on AI advancement.
[ Ref ]
Dated: Jun 2024
Its been barely 50 days since new year 2024 began, and the tech industry has already suffered more than 30,000 layoffs. And with layoffs showing no signs of slowdown, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come forward with a theory to explain why tech layoffs are happening.
The billionaire says that companies are realizing that, while (layoffs are) painful, there are benefits to being "leaner." In an interview recently, the Meta CEO said companies are still adjusting to the post-pandemic era, as per Business Insider report.
E-commerce sales skyrocketed during the pandemic, leading to significant increases in online advertising revenue. However, sales growth slowed and ad rates returned to normal as consumers went back to the stores and the economy stabilized. Numerous businesses realized they had overhired and needed to make significant cuts, including Meta. That was the first wave of layoffs.
"In terms of the layoffs and stuff like that, I actually think that was more due to companies trying to navigate Covid," Zuckerberg said when asked if tech layoffs had to do with the AI boom.
What He Said About Meta's Layoffs
"It was obviously really tough, we parted with a lot of talented people we cared about," Zuckerberg said in the interview, speaking specifically about Meta's past layoffs. "But in some ways actually becoming leaner kind of makes the company more effective."
Following Zuckerberg's "year of efficiency," when Meta laid off tens of thousands of employees, the company has been steadily recovering.
As per Zuckerberg, businesses are still considering efficiency in their operations today. Many are thinking about changing the company's structure, reducing the number of management positions, and adopting a leaner business model.
More Than 30,000 Layoffs Have Happened In 2024
From Google, Amazon, to Microsoft, a lot of big companies have already announced the beginning of layoffs in 2024. Here's a list of companies that have laid off employees till date this year:
Instacart
Mozilla
Grammarly
Getaround
Amazon
DocuSign
Snap
Polygon Labs
Okta
Thinx
Proofpoint
Wattpad
Block
PayPal
Salesforce
Flexport
Microsoft
Swiggy
Aurora
eBay
SAP
Brex
TikTok
Vroom
Wayfair
YouTube
Pixar
Audible
Discord
Google
Amazon
Twitch
Treasure Financial
Duolingo
Rent the Runway
Unity
Pitch
BenchSci
Flexe
NuScale
Trigo
InVision
VideoAmp
Orca Security
Frontdesk
Microsoft, Amazon, Twitter, Meta, HP and Google are some of the big names among the long-expanding list of companies that have announced mass layoffs.
No Mass Layoffs At Apple Yet
One tech giant that has been an exception to date is Apple. Apple employees have so far been able to avoid mass layoffs at the world's first company to hit the $3 trillion market value.
It's not that the economic slowdown and rising recession fearless haven't impacted Apple. While Apple shares are currently up 16% this year till date, the tech giant did see its shares bleed last year, just like other tech giants. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is expected next month to report its first quarterly sales decline in over three years.
So how has Apple not announced mass layoffs till now? Well, there are three key reasons that can be attributed to Apple being an exception amid the mass layoffs at tech giants.
First, Apple not aggressively hiring during the pandemic.
The second reason is that Apple doesn't offer perks such as free lunches to its staff at the campus.
And third, its CEO Tim Cook himself took a voluntary pay cut of 50% for this year 2023, which can possibly help in trimming costs amid uncertain economic headwinds.
Tim Cook's Voluntary Pay Cut
Apple will be cutting its CEO Tim Cook's compensation by 50% to $49 million in 2023, citing investor guidance and a request from Cook himself to adjust his pay.
Tim Cook yielded to resistance over his lush compensation package, as advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services expressed to Apple shareholders “significant concerns regarding the design and magnitude,” Reuters reported. Despite the fact that stockholders ended up approving his pay package—64.4% voting in support—the billionaire CEO agreed that it should be scaled back, as per Forbes.
In comparison to Cook, although Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg did take public accountability for their purported missteps that led to their respective layoffs, neither volunteered to slash their compensation to correct their wrongs. Instead, their employees bore the brunt of job losses when they aren't responsible for the executive decisions of the company.
Apple's Judicious Approach When Hiring
Compared to the other big tech companies, Apple scaled its workforce at a relatively slow pace and has generally followed the same hiring rate since 2016, as per the Forbes report.
While there was a hiring surge in Silicon Valley during the pandemic, Apple added less than 7,000 jobs in 2020. In September 2022, it was reported that the company employed 164,000 full-time workers, in both its corporate and retail divisions.
Rampant Hiring By Other Big Techs
Mostly, the tech companies undergoing mass layoffs currently are the ones who in all likelihood hired fervently during their pandemic—and even before.
Alphabet has consecutively expanded its workforce by at least 10% annually since 2013, according to CNBC. The company grew its headcount by over 20% in 2018 and 2019. The growth continued, adding over 16,000 new hires in 2020 and 21,000 employees in 2021, the report mentioned.
Since 2012, Meta has expanded its workforce by thousands each year. In 2020, Zuckerberg increased headcount by 30%—13,000 workers. The following year, the social media platform added another 13,000 employees to its payroll. Those two years marked the biggest growth in the company's history.
Amazon has already initiated its plan to lay off 18,000 employees in the process which is expected to continue in 2023 after being announced in late 2022.
In 2021, Amazon had reportedly hired an estimated 500,000 employees, according to GeekWire, becoming the second-largest employer in the United States after Walmart. A year later, the company expanded its workforce by 310,000. Prior to its layoff announcement, it was reported that Amazon employed 1.5 million workers, including corporate and warehouse staff.
Overall, it does seem that it has been so far so good for Apple employees, with no mass layoffs announced yet amid the job cut wave weeping over the tech sector. But it remains to be seen whether the Tim Cook-led tech giant is able to sustain this and totally avoid mass layoffs despite rising global recession fears, inflationary concerns and rising interest rates.
Indian IT giant Infosys has sacked hundreds of fresher employees after they failed to clear the internal fresher assessment (FA) test, Business Today has learnt.
A fresher who was onboarded at the company in August 2022 told Business Today, “I started working at Infosys in August last year and I was given training for SAP ABAP stream. Out of 150 in my team, only 60 people passed the FA exam. Rest all of us were terminated two weeks ago. From the previous batch (freshers who were onboarded in July 2022 ), nearly 85 freshers were terminated out of 150 after failing the test.”
Sources claim that 600 employees have been terminated after failing the internal test. “Two weeks ago, 208 freshers were fired after failing the FA test. In total, around 600 freshers have been fired after failing the FA test in the past few months.”
Business Today reached out to Infosys for a confirmation on the number of employees that have been terminated but the company declined to disclose the same.
The fired employees claim that failing the internal test did not result in termination for freshers who joined before July, 2022. A company representative claims that failing the internal test had always resulted in sackings.
This development comes on the backdrop of hundreds of freshers awaiting onboarding at the company for over 8 months after receiving an offer letter.
A techie awaiting onboarding told Business Today, "Even though I have a job offer from India's top IT company Infosys, I am still staring at a grim future. I already have a gap in my resume because of all the waiting and no income from past several months. On top of that Infosys has not given any clarity on timeline of onboarding. And now some of my friends who got onboarded are fired, that makes me feel scared about my prospects as it was always thought that IT sector is mass recruiter and there are always opportunities, but it is changing."
Two weeks ago, Business Today reported that IT services Wipro had laid off hundreds of employees after they failed the company's internal test. Sources allege that 800 freshers were sacked from Wipro while the company claimed that the terminations were limited to 452 people.
Here are 3 types of employees at most risk during layoffs. And, two categories of employees who are at least risk of being laid off.
By: Chris Williams (former HR exec at Microsoft)
Following Microsoft's announcement on January 18 to lay off 10,000 employees, accounting for almost 5 percent of its global workforce, a former vice-president of the human resources at the company shared three categories of employees who are at most risk of being fired and two of the safest categories.
Chris Williams, who is now a podcaster, consultant and TikTok creator told Business Insider, "Every industry, company, even department has a different risk, but some areas are more vulnerable than others." He then listed the three most unsafe categories.
1) Contract workers
"At the extreme end of the risk spectrum are contract employees. One of the main reasons companies use temporary or contract workers is for this very contingency. They want to remain flexible in case of a downturn," Williams told the publication.
2) Employees associated with new initiatives
When companies decide to explore new avenues during a good phase, they tend to hire employees for these new initiatives. Such employees too are at risk during layoffs if the company decides to play it safe. "Unless the company is making a concerted effort to pivot entirely to these new areas, these kinds of new initiatives are often the first ones cut when times are leaner," Williams told Business Insider.
3) Employees associated with event planning
According to Williams, events and luxury activities are quick to be axed when companies find themselves in a tight spot, making employees who handle events at risk of layoffs. "If you are involved in planning events, for example, those are some of the first things that companies cut when times get tight. People who are part of providing such services are at high risk of being laid off," Williams said.
He then went on to add the two categories of employees who are at least risk.
1) Profit-making employees
"If you're an essential part of building the most profitable product for your company, your layoff risk is low. When retreating to the core business, companies turn to the quality products that make money," Williams told Business Insider. If employees are essential to one of those products, the company would not risk incurring losses if such staff are fired.
2) Human resources staff
"HR is essential in the layoff process, and finance is often relied on as the financial status gets more scrutiny. As such, these areas are rarely the source of major cuts in most layoffs," Williams added.
1.
Jan/30/2023: Philips cuts 6,000 jobs just months after laying off 4,000 employees.
Dutch health technology company Philips said on Monday it would let go off 6,000 employees globally in order to restore the company’s profitability on the back of a recall of respiratory devices.
The recall, however, took place last year but still has a rippling effect on the company.
This is the second round of layoffs at Philips after a recall. The company cut over 4,000 jobs in October last year.
2.
On Jan. 4, Amazon announced it would lay off 18,000 workers, or 5% of its corporate staff. This is the largest round of layoffs announced since the pandemic started, and it was 8,000 higher than initially expected when the ecommerce giant confirmed back in November that it would be implementing job cuts.
3.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, said it will be laying off 12,000 employees, or around 6% of its workforce, making this the second-largest round of layoffs since the onset of the pandemic. Among the laid-off workers, several of them had been long-tenured or recently promoted, according to CNBC.
4.
On Jan. 18, Microsoft announced it would be cutting 10,000 jobs, or approximately 5% of its workforce. Microsoft also made multiple job cuts last year, with the technology corporation announcing it would lay off less than 1% of its staff on July 12 and also confirming another 1,000 jobs would be cut on Oct. 17, per CNBC and Axios, respectively.
5.
Following Meta's 11,000 cut back in November, Microsoft layoffs is the fourth-largest round of layoffs since the pandemic began.
6.
Also on Jan. 4, Salesforce said it plans to cut 8,000 jobs, or 10% of its staff, in addition to reducing its office space.
7.
IBM announced on Jan. 25 that it plans to cut around 3,900 jobs, or approximately 1.5% of its global workforce, though it expects to continue hiring in "higher growth areas," according to Bloomberg.
8.
Multinational software company SAP said on Jan. 26 that it plans to layoff 3,000 employees, or 2.5% of its global workforce.
9.
On Jan. 20, online furniture retailer Wayfair announced it will be laying off approximately 1,750 workers, or 10% of its staff.
10.
On Jan. 24, vacation rental management company Vacasa announced in company-wide email that it will cut 1,300 jobs, representing 17% of its workforce.
11.
On Jan. 10, Coinbase said it plans to reduce its workforce by 20%, or 950 employees.
12.
Multinational software company Amdocs decided to let go of 3% of its workforce, or 700 people, on Jan. 2, making it the first tech company in 2023 to implement mass job cuts.
Ref: investopedia
13.
Elon Musk's Twitter announced further job cuts in 2023, saying that it will let go of 3700 more employees.
14.
Swiggy CEO Srihisha Majety in an internal note to employees said that the company will lay off 380 employees.
15.
Byju's has been cutting jobs left and right over the past few months. This year, it would cut - or "rationalize" - about 5% of it's 50,000-strong workforce.
16.
Ridehailing app Ola also joined the bandwagon, announcing that it had sacked 130-200 of its employees in a fresh round of layoffs.
Ref: economictimes
17.
Even IT giant Wipro has laid off more than 400 fresher employees for poor performance in internal assessment tests. Ref: economictimes (17)
18. Spotify (600 job cuts)
"Like many other leaders, I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us.
"In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth," says Daniel Ek, Spotify's CEO. Ref: economictimes (18)
19.
Ecommerce firm Dealshare has laid off around 100 employees, or over 6% of its 1,500-strong workforce, according to multiple people aware of the development. Dealshare, backed by Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global, joins a growing number of startups that have fired employees in the new year to cut costs and rationalise operations.
Ref: economictimes (19)
20.
Apple is one exception. It strongly resisted increasing its head count in recent years and as a result doesn't have to shrink staff numbers (although it hasn't been immune to staff losses due to work-from-home policy changes). Ref: economictimes (20)
Musk Orders Twitter To Reduce Infrastructure Costs By $1 Billion: Sources
Elon Musk has directed Twitter Inc’s teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings, according to two sources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters, raising concerns that Twitter could go down during high-traffic events like the U.S. midterm elections.
The company is aiming to find between $1.5 million and $3 million a day in savings from servers and cloud services, said the Slack message, which referred to the project as “Deep Cuts Plan."
Twitter is currently losing about $3 million a day “with all spending and revenue considered," according to an internal document reviewed by Reuters.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
'If On Way To Office, Return Home': Twitter To All Employees As Layoffs Begin
Elon Musk-owned Twitter is going ahead with a massive firing plan globally. Twitter has literally shut its offices and suspended the badges of all employees until a decision is made as to whether an employee is fired or retained. The scale is so massive that employees who are not fired will get “a notification via their Twitter email”. And those who are fired will get an email on their personal email ID. The decision will be made by Friday and all employees will get an email by “9AM PST on Friday Nov. 4th.”
Elon Musk is said to be working with close colleagues at Tesla and SpaceX to structure the layoff plans. 3,738 Twitter employees could be laid off. Employees at Twitter were notified in an email seen by The New York Times that layoffs would start on Friday and instructed not to come into work on that day. The overall number of layoffs the corporation was contemplating was not mentioned in the email.
Here’s the full letter that was to sent to Twitter employees:
Team,
In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday. We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward.
Given the nature of our distributed workforce and our desire to inform impacted individuals as quickly as possible, communications for this process will take place via email. By 9AM PST on Friday Nov. 4th, everyone will receive an individual email with the subject line: Your Role at Twitter.
Please check your email, including your spam folder.
If your employment is not impacted, you will receive a notification via your Twitter email. • If your employment is impacted, you will receive a notification with next steps via your personal email. • If you do not receive an email from twitter-hr@ by 5PM PST on Friday Nov. 4th, please email peoplequestions@twitter.com.
To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended. If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home.
We acknowledge this is an incredibly challenging experience to go through, whether or not you are impacted. Thank you for continuing to adhere to Twitter policies that prohibit you from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.
We are grateful for your contributions to Twitter and for your patience as we move through this process.
Thank you.
Twitter
