Remember when we said that we are not sure why tech companies are firing people all of a sudden in 2022? The spree has caught on in 2023, and the recent culprits are workers who work for Microsoft.
We had argued, also, that it is possible that copycat behaviour is playing a part in this, where companies copy what others are doing especially in managing their workforce.
But is that all, though?
In a memo sent by the corporation’s CEO Satya Nadella, the company is planning to shed 10K people in its workforce, and this will happen over the next nine months (at the end of Q3 2023). This represents 5 percent of the company’s employee base.
READ MORE: STATE OF TECH LAYOFFS IN 2022
“First, we will align our cost structure with our revenue and where we see customer demand. Today, we are making changes that will result in the reduction of our overall workforce by 10,000 jobs through the end of FY23 Q3. This represents less than 5 percent of our total employee base, with some notifications happening today,” says Satya in the said memo.
MS further adds it will continue to invest in strategic areas for its future, allocating both capital and talent to areas of growth and long-term competitiveness for the company, while divesting in other areas.
The company defends these developments as hard choices it has made throughout its 47-year history to remain a key player in this industry that is unforgiving to anyone who doesn’t adapt to platform shifts.
To that end, Microsoft is taking a $1.2 billion charge in Q2 related to severance costs, changes to its hardware portfolio, and the cost of lease consolidation as it creates higher density across its workspaces.
“As a company, our success must be aligned to the world’s success. That means every one of us and every team across the company must raise the bar and perform better than the competition to deliver meaningful innovation that customers, communities, and countries can truly benefit from. If we deliver on this, we will emerge stronger and thrive long into the future; it’s as simple as that,” adds Satya.
