Layoff drive continues in tech giants globally amid fears of recession. 5 points

Several tech companies around the world are executing mass layoffs amid what is seen as fears of global recession and slowdown. Reports suggest, Microsoft Corporations is among the recent companies to join the laying off wave with cutting down five percent of its workforce, booting out around 11,000 roles. This comes months after the tech giant laid off around 1,000 employees across divisions.

Thousands of employees entered the new year with grim tidings as over 30,000 workers across the globe lost their jobs in the first of January, almost double the number of employees laid off in December last year. Data suggests, companies including Amazon, Vimeo, Salesforce among others have sacked a total of 30,611 people in the first six days of January.

The impact of layoffs has been felt in India as well. Several Indian tech companies have recently cut down on its workforce. Multinational companies also carried out their laying off drive in the country. Wallstreet banking giant Goldman Sachs laid off around 700 employees in the country.

Top companies that laid off employees recently:

1. Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon, Twitter Inc and Snap Inc have jointly laid off over 97,000 roles in 2022, citing slowing down of the economy and shareholder pressure. This number has raised by 649 percent as compared with 2021.
2. Video hosting platform Vimeo announced cutting down 11 percent of its workforce amid ‘difficult times’. Crypto exchange Huobi also planned to lay off 20 percent of its staff.
3. Software company Salesforce notified 10 percent of its workforce will be slashed, almost half of the number of employees it hired during pandemic.
4. In India, social media platform ShareChat has laid off 20 percent of its workforce citing ‘uncertain market conditions’. Cab aggregator Ola fired over 200 employees as a part of its restructuring exercise.
5. In a message to global staff, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy mentioned most role eliminations will take place in the Amazon Stores and PXT organizations. He also remarked how ‘grateful’ he was to those impacted by these job reductions.