In the business sector, major layoffs are a problematic step but a typical occurrence that often leaves employees wondering how they will be impacted and what to do should they still receive their pink slips.
The US labor market is now strong, with low unemployment rates and significant job growth, but as many businesses struggle to adapt to the shifting economic landscape, this might all soon change.
Major layoffs of 2023
IBM
Approximately 3,900 roles, or 1.5% of IBM‘s global workforce, will be eliminated as a result of the previously announced spinoff and sale of two business divisions, the company said on Wednesday, January 25.
- Advertisement -
This decision is anticipated to cost the business $300 million this quarter, making IBM the most recent computer juggernaut to drastically reduce its employees.
Spotify
Spotify said that 6% of its global personnel would be laid off, the most recent in a string of huge layoffs by internet companies in January.
CEO Daniel Ek announced changes to high-level management in a message to staff that was also published online, citing the need for speed and efficiency as some of the motivating factors behind these “organizational changes.”
Approximately 400 of Spotify‘s 6,600 global employees would be affected by the 6% layoffs.
#Microsoft and Alphabet became the latest companies to announce major job cuts last week. While Microsoft will reduce its global workforce by 10,000 people, #Google parent #Alphabet will cut 12,000 jobs in what is the largest #layoff in the company’s history. pic.twitter.com/Q68gGuksXO
— Statista (@StatistaCharts) January 30, 2023
Google (Alphabet)
Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, issued a memo on Friday, January 20, informing 12,000 employees that they will be let go.
We hired for a different economic reality than the one we face now, Pichai said in this memo.
The 12,000 people who will be laid off represent around 6% of the worldwide workforce and are the most recent in a string of huge layoffs at IT companies.
Microsoft
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the company is implementing adjustments that would result in 10,000 jobs being terminated by the end of March 2023 in a message that was distributed to staff on January 18, 2023.
The message also noted that Microsoft will keep hiring in important strategic areas even though it would be cutting employment in some of those areas.
As a result of rising worries about the state of the economy, Microsoft is now the most recent in a string of tech firms to resort to mass layoffs.
Amazon
The intention to eliminate 18,000 corporate and technology roles worldwide was revealed by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on January 4, 2023, via an internal memo. These initial layoffs are simply the start of Amazon‘s wider plan to merge specific teams.
Amazon started letting employees go on November 16th, 2022, after revealing plans for widespread layoffs in mid-November 2022. These layoffs will affect about 3% of its corporate employees or about 1% of its whole global workforce.
Amazon is also giving some employees who leave on their own a voluntary severance buy-out package as part of its cost-cutting strategy.
Salesforce
On January 4, 2023, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff declared that the B2B software company would be laying off 7,000 employees, or around 10% of its total staff.
Major layoffs of 2022
DoorDash
A business spokeswoman for DoorDash announced on November 30th, 2022, that the company will fire about 1,250 workers or 6% of its workforce. The mass layoff was “the most difficult adjustment to DoorDash that I’ve had to disclose in our almost 10-year history,” according to CEO Tony Xu.
Meta (Facebook)
After weeks of speculation, Meta announced mass layoffs of 11,000 of its employees on Wednesday, November 9th, 2022. These layoffs will affect 13% of Meta’s personnel and come after the company’s shares have lost two-thirds of their value.
Although Zuckerberg apparently acknowledged responsibility for Meta‘s “poor” decisions, it is unclear whether additional layoffs are imminent.
In Meta‘s 18-year existence, this major layoff is the first.
Nearly half of Twitter’s global workforce, 3,700 employees, were let go on Friday, November 4, 2022.
The content moderation teams, sales, and advertising divisions, engineering & development divisions, and other areas were all impacted by Twitter’s major layoffs.
The largest mass layoff by a digital business in 2022 involved Twitter, which let go of close to 50% of its workers.
Snapchat
According to a statement from Snap Inc., the company will let go of 20% of its personnel, or about 1,300 people (September 2022)
On August 31, 2022, a spokeswoman for Snap confirmed the layoff rumors and said that the layoffs were an attempt to reduce costs.
Most of their original long-form Snapchat shows will no longer be produced as a result of the layoffs, which will mostly affect their content staff. There will be layoffs of workers in the business’ hardware section as well.
Netflix
Due to the streaming giant’s declining subscriber base, 150 employees, or around 2% of its staff, were let go by Netflix in June 2022.
Major layoffs worldwide pic.twitter.com/NkX3Lhr3su
— Tony De Jonker (@TonyDeJonker) January 29, 2023
Netflix representatives say that these layoffs originate from a business need and not from any personal performance difficulties of those being let go, citing sluggish revenue as the cause of the company’s poor growth.
Coinbase
In June 2022, the cryptocurrency trading platform stated that 18% of its staff would be let off.
Nearly one-fifth of the Coinbase workforce was laid off, with CEO Brian Armstrong citing a potential recession, the need to control costs, and growing “too quickly” during a bull market as justifications. Many have questioned whether this is a sign of things to come for the crypto industry as a whole.
See the below video for more detailed information:
