Microsoft is planning to lay off a lot of employees due to uncertain macroeconomic conditions, following Twitter, Meta, and a slew of tech giants. The Verge reported that the company may fire 5% of its employees this week.
According to a report, the tech giant may announce layoffs today. Microsoft currently employs over 220,000 people, which roughly equates to 11,000 people. Microsoft laid off close to 1,000 employees across divisions in October of last year.
According to the most recent reports, the engineering divisions will suffer the most from the most recent round of layoffs. This comes just a few days after Microsoft announced that its salaried employees in the United States would have an “unlimited time off policy.” The policy stipulates that salaried workers in the United States will not have a predetermined number of vacation days and will be able to take as many leaves as they want. Part-time workers do not fall into this category.
Although the news of the job cuts is unfavourable, the development isn’t all that surprising given that Microsoft has been indicating that there will be uncertainty in the future. For instance, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella stated in an interview with CNBC during his recent trip to India that the company is not immune to global changes.
After the pandemic-fuelled growth, Nadella anticipates that the next two years will be challenging for tech companies. He also said that the technology industry must look within itself to increase efficiency in order to remain competitive, and that Microsoft is not alone. Microsoft has yet to respond to rumours of a widespread layoff this week.
To reduce operating expenses, numerous American tech giants have laid off thousands of employees over the past five months. The Ukraine-Russia conflict, sluggish growth, and excessive hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic have largely been blamed by the businesses.
