Tech-Giant Microsoft Continues Layoff Unspecified Employees In 2024 To Focus More In ‘Future Growth’

Tech-Giant Microsoft Continues Layoff Unspecified Employees In 2024 To Focus More In ‘Future Growth’

Amid the global recession, there has been a significant trend of layoffs seen by tech-giants which began in 2023 and continued to grow in 2024. The tech giants Microsoft, Google, Apple, Metaverse, and Wipro have always been in the news, but this time these tech companies are constantly making headlines due to layoffs. 

Microsoft has initiated another round of layoffs to optimize its employees and investment in future growth. However, Microsoft has not revealed the exact number of employees being fired. Posts on Linkedin, a social media networking platform that connects employees and recruiters indicated that tech giant, Microsoft has commenced layoffs of unspecified employees from multiple teams and locations in another round, this week. The affected employees are majorly from the product and program management functions globally. 

Nearly 1,00,000 employees have been fired by Tech firms in the Initial months of 2024, as reported by Layoffs.fyi (a website which tracks tech layoffs since pandemic).

A spokesperson from Microsoft said, “Organizational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. We will continue to prioritize and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners”.

Laying off became a constant thing for Microsoft…How?

Microsoft, being founded in 1975 and currently, operates in 190 countries with more than 2,22,000 employees worldwide has been laying off its employees from the beginning of 2024. In January, the company eliminated nearly 1900 employees in its gaming division after acquiring the video game maker Activision Blizzard in a $69 billion deal. The affected employees worked for Activision Blizzard, Xbox and ZeniMax. 

Additionally, Microsoft completely shut down four studios- Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games and Roundhouse Games which affected nearly 1500 employees in May. Last month, the company fired 1,000 employees, working in Azure Cloud unit and HoloLens mixed-reality teams from different locations to focus more on growth areas like cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence to gain more profit. 

Artificial intelligence and cloud computing have been preferred by many existing tech firms and are practicing in their operations to enhance flexibility, enable user friendly interface, agile methodologies and cost-effectiveness.  

As Microsoft concluded its fiscal year in June 2024, the ongoing layoffs has been a prominent strategy to maintain its profits and implement organizational changes. These layoffs are also indicative of changing business needs which bring long-term success. The tech companies from a longer period of time struggled with profit margins in the digitally robust world. As the company continues to work on the reconstruction, it also has to consider difficult decisions of firing the employees. This practice has been followed by Microsoft in the previous year as well. 

In 2020, Microsoft expanded its workforce when the pandemic hit across the globe but the workforce has been declining from the last two years. According to a report, the company employed nearly 2,27,000 employees in 2023, which reduced to 2,32,000 employees in the last year.  

Another tech giant, Tesla, has also followed the same strategy as Microsoft. The company’s CEO Elon Musk has announced the layoff to its employees via email. Tesla has fired 14,000 employees which will affect 10 percent of its workforce. 

Will layoff spread in other sectors as well?

Not just tech-companies; the media industry, financial services, telecom and other labor markets have also been affected with the ongoing layoffs. 

Reports from Light Reading and Reuters have claimed that the telecom sector has planned to terminate almost 15,000 employees across the globe, with India being the most affected. The media industry has also gone through the disturbing layoffs, with 20,000 employees being cut in 2023 due to high inflation rates, growing competition, changing customer preferences and behaviors, and the emergence of AI (Artificial Intelligence). This is the highest number of layoffs since Covid-19 pandemic where 30,000 employees were laid off. 

We can see, a substantial number of layoffs have been encountered due to the economic recession. It is evident that market dynamics is constantly changing, one has to keep learning new things to stay relevant in the market. While some roles might be completely eliminated from the growing job market, new opportunities will emerge. 

In conclusion, the massive job cuts across various industries have had a devastating impact on employees globally. Beyond the increasing rate of unemployment, the layoffs bring disruptions in livelihood and careers, leaving a mark on the employees for years to come.