The year 2023 began confirming a trend already presented since the end of 2022, with a series of major cuts in employees in giant companies in the technology sector – the so-called Big Techs.
The scenario has worried the segment and raised doubts about the reasons for this possible “crisis”. To understand the current situation, the Detective TudoCelular separated the main points of these cases.
Which companies made cuts?
The list of companies that made cuts at the beginning of the year includes names among the calls Big Techs. We are talking here about Amazon, Microsoft and Google. The retailer opened the list for this year, with the announcement of the resignation of more than 18 thousand employees in 2023. The changes in the company started in November 2022, but the layoff forecast for this year increased by 8 thousand, in relation to the forecast until then.
The Redmond giant is another one that will have five digits less workers until the month of March. 10,000 employees of the company founded by Bill Gates will be laid off, which is equivalent to 5% of the total workforce. This number appears after the departure of approximately one thousand people, in October 2022.
In the case of Google, there will be 12,000 fewer employees, spread across all the company’s offices around the world – including Brazil. This number represents something above 6% of the current global staff of the Mountain View giant.
Salesforce is another among the industry giants that has carried out mass layoffs. Around 10% of its payroll – something around 7,000 people – will be dismissed from the company, in a process expected to end by the end of 2024.
Scenario in Brazil
At the national level, companies also did not spare themselves from dismissing their employees. PagBank PagSeguro was the first of the year, with a layoff of 7% of the staff, which added up to approximately 481 individuals.
Considered a unicorn – a company worth more than US$ 1 billion –, the digital identity solutions startup IDtech also reduced its workforce, with a cut of more than 100 people, which is equivalent to 10.5% of the total .
Another on the list is Pier. The insurance-oriented startup cut 100 workers from sectors such as technology, customer service, marketing and recruitment. The number represents something around 39% of the staff.
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Reasons for layoffs
As much as many people unduly link these layoffs to political situations on the national scene, these cuts are not related to any situation of the Federal Government – not least because they are being seen at a global level. So what are the reasons?
Among the causes for so many layoffs, one of them involves the pandemic of the new coronavirus. The need for social isolation in the first few months generated a “boom” in the use of technology, which forced companies to hire more people to handle all the additional demand.
There are more factors that have influenced the cutting decisions of recent months. The war between Russia and Ukraine makes the list. The conflict has generated uncertainties in the world economy, mainly because there is no forecast of a truce between the countries.
The increase in global inflation at this moment of greater tranquility in the pandemic also generates impacts and the need for a reorganization of companies, in order to mitigate any reductions in collection.
And the future?
According to industry sources, the trend is that the scenario does not gain optimism in the coming months. There is a probability of a recession in the United States of 65% in the next 12 months, according to estimates. The main economists of the Goldman Sachs financial group, David Mericle and Alec Phillips, understand that the risk is lower than disclosed.
TRIO’s digital innovation specialist and CCO, Luciano Mathias, these mass shutdowns “it is a harbinger of difficulty for this year”.
On the other hand, a Gartner survey indicates a total of US$ 4.5 trillion in global investments in the technology sector throughout 2023 – equivalent to an increase of 2.4% compared to last year.
The trend, according to the study, is for corporate spending on IT to remain strong, even with inflation and the other factors mentioned above.
What is your assessment of the mass layoffs in the technology sector at the beginning of 2023? What do you expect for the future of the area? Join us!
