Google, Amazon, and Meta have already let go of hundreds of workers in just the third week of 2024: critical issue
Google, Amazon, Meta, and other businesses revealed last week that hundreds of workers across departments would be laid off in a new round of layoffs. The job cuts are a component of restructuring initiatives, and current trends suggest that there may be additional layoffs in the upcoming months.With a string of massive layoffs that rocked the tech sector, 2023 started off badly. Thousands of employees were let go by Google, Microsoft, Meta, and numerous other industry titans as part of their reorganisation and cost-cutting initiatives. The earthquakes were felt all year long and appear to be continuing into 2024.
January is only halfway through, and already there have been several rounds of layoffs. Employers such as Google, Meta, Amazon, Discord, and many more have announced new rounds of layoffs that will affect hundreds of workers in various departments. The recent layoffs are not large-scale, but they are noteworthy enough to raise concerns about potential future mass layoffs.Among the first companies to begin 2024 with a wave of layoffs, Google has impacted over 1,000 workers in a variety of business divisions, including digital assistant, hardware, and engineering. According to the company, the layoffs were a part of a bigger restructuring plan to streamline operations and allocate funds to its top priorities.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai issued a formal warning to staff members in an email, which The Verge reported, indicating that the company may have to make more job cuts in the upcoming year due to rising competition and regulatory obstacles. Google also offered its employees severance pay and the chance to apply for other positions within the company, expressing regret for the impact of the layoffs on them.
You Tube
As part of a larger reorganisation plan within the Alphabet group, YouTube, a subsidiary of Google that allows users to share videos, also revealed that it is eliminating about 100 positions from its operations and creator management teams.
The goal of the job cuts is to streamline operations and allocate funds to strategic domains like media, sports, music, film, and television. The layoffs occur as a result of YouTube’s struggles to compete with rivals like TikTok and increase ad revenue. Additionally, YouTube has implemented strategies to entice viewers to watch advertisements or sign up for its ad-free service, YouTube Premium.
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Amazon
Along with Google, Amazon also revealed a new round of layoffs that will affect hundreds of workers from its Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video divisions. There are rumours that the job cuts are a part of Amazon’s bigger strategy to simplify its business and concentrate on its main goals.According to the company, a detailed analysis of its operations identified areas for efficiency and customer satisfaction improvements, which led to the layoffs. Although Amazon did not disclose the precise number of impacted workers, it did state that they made up a minor portion of its workforce. In addition, Amazon gave them the option to apply for other positions within the company and received severance pay.
Interestingly, Amazon is also implementing a rigorous return-to-office policy, which mandates that workers work from the office three days a week or less, at the same time as the layoffs. Employees who violate the policy allegedly face consequences from Amazon, including blocked promotions and lower performance ratings. Some workers think that Amazon is using this tactic to cut staff without actually firing anyone and that it is inciting animosity at work in an attempt to get them to resign.
Twitch
After acquiring Twitch, a streaming service, Amazon revealed that it would be laying off more than 500 workers, or 35 percent of the workforce. In a memo to the staff and a blog post to the public, the company’s CEO, Dan Clancy, broke the news, stating that it was a tough but necessary decision to make Twitch more competitive and sustainable.
CEO Dan Clancy thanked staff members for their contributions and praised their role in encouraging community-driven creation after the layoff announcement. He clarified that rather than being a result of overly optimistic projections from the past, the recent layoffs were a strategic decision to align the organisation with its current size and future growth trajectory.
Meta
Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, also revealed recently that it is cutting 60 jobs, the majority of which are in the technical programme manager (TPM) role. According to the company, the layoffs are a part of a bigger plan to streamline its operations and concentrate on its top goals, which include the metaverse.
Additionally, Meta stated that the impacted workers would need to undergo a new interview process in order to apply for positions such as product or programme managers within the organisation.
Although Meta did not formally disclose the reasons for the TPM position’s termination, one of the former Instagram staff members claims that the layoffs are connected to Meta’s ongoing restructuring, which is referred to as “the flattening.” The goal of this restructuring, which began last year, is to reduce the number of needless management tiers and increase the organization’s agility and efficiency. Further layoffs may occur in the future as Meta attempts to reduce unprofitable projects and teams and get back to its pre-2020 headcount levels, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CFO Susan Li.
Discord
Discord is another online streaming service that has made layoff announcements. As part of a strategy to simplify operations and concentrate on its primary goal, the company confirmed that it is eliminating 170 positions, or 17 percent of its total workforce. Jason Citron, the CEO of the company, broke the news to the staff in a meeting and a memo to the workers, explaining that the layoffs were a tough but necessary choice to make Discord more efficient and flexible.
Employees from various departments within the company were impacted by the layoffs. The layoffs, which come after a previous round of job cuts in August 2023 in which Discord eliminated 4% of its positions, are the biggest that the company has ever made.Citron clarified that in addition to cutting expenses, the layoffs were implemented to address the problem of overhiring, which had resulted in decreased productivity within the organisation. Discord, he claimed, had taken on too many jobs as a result of its rapid growth and hiring spree. He expressed gratitude to the staff for their contributions and assured them that Discord would keep pursuing its goal of enabling communities to create collaboratively.