World is experiencing a worse economic uncertainty, with data and reports showing that it may be worse than 2008 crisis. Companies are managing to sustain in the field, ensuring no losses ahead. And the effective way to lead the company without a loss is to minimize its expense – which is why job-cuts comes into picture, affecting thousands of lives for paying the company’s profitable path. Tech Layoffs are becoming a trend-like pattern, with all top companies to small startups slashing employees in thousands.
Though seemed that non-performers are the frontline victims for the firings, there happens to be a few departments companies are targeting first to get them out of the company. The page will elaborate the most affected jobs during the layoffs and what companies expect from an employee to let them endure their relationship with it, thereby making them valuable.
260,000+ Job Cuts & Counting
Economic uncertainty had pushed companies to possibly cut their employees and some companies like Yahoo had already reduced 20% of its workers recently. The number increases day by day and the road is unclear through the windscreen with more possible cuts expected in 2023.
The technology sector has hit the worst of 102,943 job cuts in January 2023, which is a 136% increase from 43,651 cuts done in December 2022. Amazon, and Google tops the list of layoffs cutting 18,000 and 12,000 jobs, while Meta and Microsoft had cut 11,000 and 10,000 workers.
The world had witnessed 159,000+ layoffs among 1044 tech companies in 2022, and it had already reached 1 lakh just in the first month of 2023, according to reports. In India, startups are the most affect, with 21,500+ employees losing their jobs till Jan 2023.
Tech Layoffs 2023 – Jobs in Danger
Every company would assess its workforce, ranking them with their performance reports and the least performers are mostly affected. This has been the work percept for years and it’s fair, as no company wills to pay an idler, comparatively. Few companies like Google had developed a review system for filtering out the least workers. Called ‘Googler Reviews and Development’ (GRAD), it will put employees who receive low scores at higher risk of getting laid off from the company. This might happen in top companies, with their own model of valuing the workforce, wherein the non-performers (comparative) of every department becomes a victim of layoff.
Indeed, the layoff trend not just focused on the non-performers but also team-wise execution. Companies have cut-off even a whole department that’s not part of their main prominence. For example, Microsoft’s layoffs impacted hugely on its game development and mixed-reality (MR) headset teams and those who had their work on AltspaceVR virtual reality based social platform. These teams are out of Microsoft’s prime business – operating system, “Bing” search-engine & browser. Likewise Google had laid off wide range of people under Google Cloud and Amazon’s layoffs affected workers in devices (Echo) and services divisions.
The bottom-line is if you’re into a company’s out-of-the-project divisions, and comparatively not competent to your colleagues, chances of layoffs could be high.
Most-targeted Employees
However, eagle eyeing the layoffs, companies have mostly objected the middle-managers – one who were working in the company for years, held managerial positions with annual pay of about $500,000 to $1 million, with added stock benefits. This not applies to every company that laid off, but few of the fortune-500s – Google, Meta and so on. Managers from various departments including strategy, recruiting and go-to-market teams had suffered being the most targeted.
Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg after cutting 11,000 jobs, reportedly said he doesn’t like seeing ‘managers managing managers’ fueling another round of layoffs. “I don’t think you want a management structure that’s just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work.” “Don’t just manage, also code and contribute or else resign,” Zuckerberg told to managers.
Microsoft’s layoffs had also considerable slash in its human resource managers team.
Overall to sum up, middle managers from human resource departments, strategy, recruiting and engineers in the research & auxiliary divisions have been the clear target for 2022 and 2023’s job cuts.
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How to safeguard your job?
Layoffs could be miserable hitting you off the track financially and professionally. Though precise ways to safeguard your job can’t be made like “If you do this, you will not be laid off”, assuring and enacting on few steps and tasks would have you off the list of job cuts probably.
Updating skills to the company’s needs
Every firm has its goals and objectives – their prime sector of business. Understand it and develop skills related to it to be the up-to-date in the marketplace. Like Google & Microsoft would need employees with prominent AI skills, Meta – developing VR & AR skills.
Professional Network Connection
Maintain a strong relationship with your co-workers and senior officials, grabbing opportunities to prove your existence in the work atmosphere. Have a positive attitude in the workplace being confident and socially aware.
Get Certifications based on your Role
Online education has paved immense ways to enrich one’s career and if you wish to knock off the 20s and 30s part, adding skill-based certifications to your profile could be one of the best part of securing a job or to say securing your career. You’ll be advantaged if you are eager enough to dive yourself into the field than one who needs to be pushed into.
Understand Company’s Risk Factors
As it’s important to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, you may have to acknowledge your company’s risk factors too for avoiding a layoff. Get yourself into the company’s main area of operating divisions and let go off the mood to idle – to just exist and get salary.
Have a Plan B
Following the best advice is no guarantee that you won’t get laid off; for which you may need a plan for handling a layoff.
The first key to marching successfully is self-awareness. Be aware of what’s happening in your company or your company’s peers and prepare well in advance. As said earlier, having a positive attitude towards career and an irresistible profile would push you off the risk of the effect of layoffs. Kick starting a side-hustle would also help greatly, when things unite.
At the end of the day, place your hope above all.
(For more such interesting informational, technology and innovation stuffs, keep reading The Inner Detail).