Tech layoffs have been in the news for the last couple of months. The speed and scale of these layoffs are unprecedented and should be seen with a broader lens. The number of layoffs hover around 100K in Silicon Valley alone.
All successful companies go through a cycle of growth. When these companies are in growth mode, the most natural thing to do is to ‘hire and hire fast,’ and the wild goose chase begins for the best talent in town! But, soon after the growth phase, you are no longer the only ‘gig’ in town, as you start competing with other players, and now suddenly, you start dialing back on those hiring trends. You got to start focusing on product innovation, new segments of the market, different geographies, and so on, as you begin facing the new realities in the competitive world. Companies like Meta, SalesForce, and others face the existential crisis of staying relevant. Matured companies have dealt with similar situations many times in the past. Hundred-year-old giants may not be agile and nimble like tech start-ups, but they have solid theories and well-compiled ‘blue books’ to deal with such unprecedented situations.
The Tech CEOs have been talking about a looming recession for months,The ‘detour’ should be avoided. Thoughtful workforce planning is more critical than just following a default response of layoffs to an uncertain future driven by market conditions and intense completion. After all, employees are the companies’ lifeblood that help them deliver the best output and outperform the competition.
but it doesn’t necessarily mean layoffs. It could mean ‘speed bumps’ by telling their employees to expect tougher working conditions and targeting higher productivity, which would probably mean slowing down the rapid growth they witnessed before the pandemic. But these tech giants are treating the situation as a BIG opportunity to ‘detour’, which is not a healthy sign! Companies that follow the path of layoffs do lose the time and money invested in training their employees, and let’s not forget the blighting effects on survivors, which are sometimes irreparable!