In the last 12 months, tech companies across the globe have been in a downsizing spree. Unfortunately, this job cuts trend continues unabated. Microsoft has announced that its social network company, LinkedIn is letting 670 staff members go. The job cuts are the second this year, after LinkedIn axed 716 jobs in May.
LinkedIn will now lose 3% of its total workforce with majority of the talent let go said to be from the engineering and finance teams. “Talent changes are a difficult, but necessary and regular part of managing our business,” the firm wrote in a post on the LinkedIn website.
Telecommunication company T-Mobile is also downsizing its staff size by 7%. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, said the move is necessary as retaining customers is “materially more expensive” in the current market. The telco will fire about 5,000 employees. To put that number in context, the staff size declared redundant is equal to Safaricom’s entire staff size. Since its merger with Sprint 3 years ago, T-Mobile has been consistently reducing its staff size.
Chipmaker Qualcomm is also carrying out a major round of layoffs. Media reports indicate the company is letting go of 1,258 staff members. 750 of the cuts is from Qualcomm’s engineering teams. The company cited “uncertainty in the market” as the reason behind the job cuts. The job reductions will begin in mid-December.
Other tech companies especially from the telecom sector have had recent job cuts. The companies include Juniper Networks, Cisco, Airspan and Cambium , and Verizon. Last month, Google announced layoffs affecting its global recruitment team.
Job Cuts in Kenya Tech Scene
In Kenya, Microsoft fired members of its Kenyan development team in March with the exact number not revealed. The move affected 20 product managers as well. There have been layoffs in tech start-ups in Kenya like Twiga Foods, Sendy, Chipper Cash,Copia and Jumia.
Most companies have said layoffs are meant to cut cost in the midst of uncertain global markets. Some of the job cuts have been attributed to the use of AI. Kenya start-ups have been hit by a harsh economic landscaping at a time when funding is drying up.
