Communications of the ACM
Layoffs at Tech Giants Reverse Small Part of Hiring Spree
In announcing layoffs, tech executives struck notably apologetic tones and admitted to over-hiring.
For a stretch of the pandemic, tech companies couldn't hire fast enough. Talent wars broke out in Silicon Valley, with firms vying for software engineers, often lavishing extravagant perks on their new and would-be hires. As profits soared, executives acted as if the party would never end.
Now, it has — and workers are bearing the brunt of pullbacks. Nearly 200,000 tech employees have been laid off since the start of 2022, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks job cuts. Four of the largest tech companies — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft — have announced a total of more than 50,000 job cuts in recent months.
But even after significant cuts, the largest tech companies are still behemoths. They grew enormously during the pandemic, adding tens of thousands of workers. The layoffs announced in recent weeks reverse a fraction of the hiring done in recent years.
From The New York Times
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