It’s only February 1, 2024, yet we’ve seen top tech companies like Amazon, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google slash jobs even as quarterly earnings statements beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations. Last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared 2023 “the year of efficiency,” but it looks like Silicon Valley is still refining its efficiency for 2024.
January 2024 tech layoffs didn’t hold back: over 25,000 jobs were eliminated across 100 tech companies according to Layoffs.fyi. In just one month, that’s concerning as 2023 was a bloodbath, with over 260,000 tech jobs cut.
25,000
The number of tech industry jobs eliminated in January 2024, according to Layoffs.fyi.
Here’s a list of the top announcements:
- Google is laying off hundreds of employees across its Alphabet portfolio of companies, including YouTube, Google, Google Cloud, and other “bets” such as X Labs. The Google Ads team seems the hardest hit as it shifts to more AI automation across its Ads portfolio
- Amazon is laying off hundreds across its Twitch division and Prime Video/MGM Studios divisions
- Microsoft announced it is cutting 1,900 employees across its gaming divisions after acquiring Activision Blizzard
- Salesforce will eliminate 700 jobs, or 1% of its workforce, after already cutting 10% in 2023
- Apple announced it is eliminating all roles from its San Diego office location, forcing employees in the area to relocate to Austin, Texas. While not an official layoff, it’s a tactic primarily used to eliminate roles as many employees – especially in San Diego – are not going to be willing to relocate
- Block will eliminate around 10% of its employees after CEO Jack Dorsey announced the cuts on an earnings call. Block will go from 13,000 to “an absolute cap of 12,000 employees” by the end of 2024
- Proofpoint will lay off 280 employees globally to “streamline its operations” and reduce management layers
- IBM will lay off some employees in 2024 and hire more AI-focused roles. It’s also demanding employees return to the office or seek employment elsewhere
- eBay announced it will lay off 9% of the company’s workforce, affecting 1,000 employees
- TikTok eliminated 60 jobs across the U.S. market, primarily in sales and advertising, and other unrelated layoffs in international markets
- SAP announced it will offer voluntary buyouts or job changes to 8,000 employees amid restructuring
- Vroom is exiting the online used car space and will eliminate 90% of its employees as it shifts to auto financing and AI-powered analytics
- Wayfair will cut 1,650 employees to cut layers of management and restructure
- PayPal will cut 9% of its workforce after disappointing quarterly performance and a botched announcement
- Unity, a videogame software developer, announced it will cut 25% of its workforce, approximately 1,800 jobs
- Audible is laying off 5% of its workforce, days after its parent Amazon announced massive cuts
Fully remote jobs on the chopping block?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, remote jobs seem to be the first to be eliminated across the wider tech industry, according to reports. The Wall Street Journal reported that remote workers were 35% more likely to be laid off in 2023 than their in-office or hybrid-working peers. The analysis included over 2 million white-collar jobs and was performed by employment data provider Live Data Technologies.
Managerial perceptions of worker productivity, justified or not, don’t help the cause. A Gartner survey in 2021 found that 68% of executives and managers believed in-office workers were higher performers than remote employees. Thus, the age-old phrase “out of sight, out of mind” reigns.
Why are tech companies laying off so many jobs?
According to Jeff Shulman, a professor at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, “it’s the new normal” in the tech industry, and “the layoffs seem to be helping their stock prices, so these companies see no reason to stop.”
Indeed, tech stocks such as the “magnificent 7″– which includes Apple, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla – have all seen healthy, continued growth in the last six months.
Schulman adds, “They’re [tech companies] getting away with it because everyone is doing it. And they’re getting away with it because its the new normal.”
Others, such as Stanford business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, have called this the era of “copycat layoffs.” He believes that “tech layoffs are basically an instance of social contagion, in which companies imitate what others are doing.”
The question remains: how deep into the storm are we? How much more treacherous conditions will the industry have to weather before we reach clear blue, sunny skies? It might not be until 2025.
