Reasons behind the recent tech layoffs and how it's affecting majority of people
Recently, several employees from the biggest tech companies have been laid off globally, and more are still being considered for layoff.
Over recent times, about 300,000 workers have been laid off in the last 12 months.
Imagine a scenario of Mr. A, who has been working for 12 years as a software programmer, unfortunately for him getting to the office to receive a sack letter,
“Oh”
That will be devastating and heartbreaking.
Just a few days into 2023, Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy announced there would be 18,000 layoffs across the company.
Within the same week, Microsoft's CEO announced the dismissal of 10,000 workers, and according to Google, there were terminating 12,000 employees.
What is the cause of the recent tech layoffs in most big tech companies, and why now?
According to press statistics, the biggest tech companies blamed recent layoffs on,
Economic Conditions Caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic
Recall that the World Health Organization initially reported the virus on December 31, 2019, and declared the COVID-19 outbreak globally on January 30, 2020, which affected thousands of people who were either sick or even killed by the spread of the virus.
Bernard Marr, a worlds renowned futurist influencer, stated that,
“ The Covid-19 pandemic altered our world in many ways including acceleration of digital transformation”
While getting along with Bernard Marr, Wikipedia recently wrote that COVID-19 affected many scientific and technical institutions worldwide, leading to lower productivity in many fields and programs.
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic caused drastic changes in many industries, including tech companies.
If you agree with me, the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic can't be compared to the positive effects.
Lists of Biggest Tech Layoffs Since Covid-19:
Google: 12,000 Layoffs
IBM: 3,900 Layoffs
Meta: 11,000 Layoffs
Microsoft: 10,000 Layoffs
Amazon: 10,000 Layoffs
Salesforce: 8,000 Layoffs
Cisco: 4,100 Layoffs
Booking: 4,375 Layoffs
Paypal: 2,000 Layoffs
Philips: 4,000 Layoffs
Twitter: 3,700 Layoffs
Sap: 3,000 Layoffs
Adobe: 100 Layoffs
Hp: Around 4,000 to 6,0000 layoffs
Loom: 23 Layoffs
Pinterest: 150 Layoffs
Ericsson: 400 Layoffs
Zendesk: 350 Layoffs
Goldman Sachs: 3,200 Layoffs
Opendoor: 550 Layoffs
Oracle: 200 Layoffs
Rising inflation caused by Over Hiring of Tech employees
Overhiring can reduce productivity because there are often too many people working on the same project, resulting in inefficient resource use.
After a massive hiring spree in the first two years of the pandemic, industry giants like Amazon and Meta reversed course in 2022.
Last year, there were at least 154,000 layoffs from more than 1,000 tech companies, according to layoffs. fyi, a website has been tracking tech layoffs since March 2020.
Affected tech workers told me that the randomness of the firings struck them,
Here are some of the comments from affected tech employees from different companies.
John W Rich Microsoft and Google software engineer.
“ I was laid off from my jobs as a remote software engineer at Microsoft and Google in the same week. Now I'm down to my jobs with Apple and Amazon and only $800k in base annual compensation. How am I supposed to live like this?”
Aron Foster, Google software engineer.
“I was laid off from Google and was planning to stay in tech. However, this news changes everything”
Nneoma Ajiwe, Spotify Social Media Marketing.
“This sucks because I particularly loved this team. I loved my job, I'm still shocked and just trying to sort through feelings and think about what I need to do”
Maya Joshi, Twitter's senior manager of web strategy.
"I was laid off from my job at Twitter and I have applied to about 60 jobs since then"
Christina Stiehi is a content writer at Noom.
"Last week, I was laid off as a content writer at Noom." I enjoyed the pivot from traditional digital media to technology. I'm looking for my next full-time role and freelance writing in the meantime"
Bellack, Google.
Bellack says he woke up at about 5 a.m. on Jan. 20 and found an email telling him,"'the company no longer has a position for you,'" he said.
He could check his work email long enough to see another message about company layoffs. Within minutes, he was locked out, he said.
Google slashed 12,000 jobs or about 6% of its workforce. Having watched the onslaught of layoffs in the tech industry, Bellack wasn't surprised.
"It seemed like the thing all the cool kids were doing in Silicon Valley," he said of the layoffs.
Google did not respond to a request for comment. In an email to employees on Friday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said:
"This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with."
The layoffs left Bellack "very torn," he said. The forced exit clarified his status, allowing him to move on, but he felt bad for colleagues who hadn't expected it.
Recall that Twitter’s layoffs happened because Elon Musk bought the company and took it private. Meta’s CEO claims its 13 percent reduction in staff is a course correction after the company went on a hiring spree during the online retail boom that came out of the pandemic.
Josh Bersin, IBM.
"Layoffs have several negative effects: they can spook investors, the company loses valuable skills, and surviving employees feel uncertain." It often takes a year or two for a company to “recover” from a layoff, and some companies never return to pristine growth"
On his podcast, Josh talks about how the recent layoffs in tech have affected people.
CONCLUSION
Regarding their stories, one should remember that nothing is guaranteed, even if you have highly sought-after skills.
Always prepare for rainy days,
Build an emergency fund, and
Live below your means.
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