loss massive staff cuts The furloughs that technology companies registered as of last year, and which have already affected nearly 360,000 workers and workers worldwide, could be part of a series of many chapters in this complex story.
the trouble is that startup And as the tech giants falter in late 2022 and early 2023 the bubble hasn’t stopped. The cuts will continue and, according to consultations with experts, it is likely that the phenomenon that has been called “the great layoffs” will continue for several more months.
The layoff tracker platform, a site that calculates cutbacks for technology workers worldwide, records 117,000 layoffs In January this year alone, the month with the most impact among more than 240 companies in the industry. Meanwhile, the sector is in balance after 13 months of crisis 364,102 persons who have lost their jobs and 1,227 companies that have resorted to this measure.
“I think the wave of layoffs due to realignment could continue,” says Luciano Gonzalez, director of organizational transformation and digital talent consultant at Crediclub. From an expert perspective, the drastic cutbacks in the technology industry are linked to factors such as a possible economic downturn in the United States and strategic planning based on behaviors forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Companies considered a scenario in which we would be shut down by the pandemic and their strategic planning was focused on that, but when consumption patterns started changing, they realized they had allocated. money, people and technology To a reality that was temporary. I think there is a strategic approach with a wrong vision of what is going to happen and at the same time, companies are contracting because they are focusing on their core business model”, explains the expert.
In recent weeks, tech giants like Spotify, Google, Microsoft, SAP I IBM He announced massive staff cuts. joined this club betterflyWhich in 2022 also reached the category of unicorn by getting an investment round of $ 125 million.
“Sadly, more waves of layoffs are coming, and more market speculation, I think we may see this in the next six months and it may be back to normal by the second half of the year”, says Jesus Salas, CEO and Founder of CodersLink Platform.
Executives say technology companies peaked during the pandemic in their valuations. “The value of technology companies hasn’t stopped rising over the past 15 years, and at some point it was going to stagnate, but it will resume its progress, I think it is a bump.”
Barbara Mejia, head of IT projects at Experis, points out that the rapid growth of the industry has led to significant increases in salary levels and greater demand for talent, but “we are now moving towards a restructuring process in 2023,
inhuman retrenchment
“It seems like fired via email self drive. This is a first time for me, I would not recommend it. I’m one of the 12,000 people who were fired from Google last Friday. I saw a lot of people sharing their stories on LinkedIn. I congratulate you, but it was all too crude to think about my approach. But what impressed me the most was the sheer number of smart and talented people on that shortlist,” a former Google worker shared on LinkedIn.
In terms of talent, the tech sector is facing two crises: layoffs and how to say goodbye. The first widespread movement to generate criticism was Twitter’s case early last November, after it fostered more uncertainty among its colleagues by asking them to wait at home for notification about “their future” at the company.
Liz Guarneros, CEO and co-founder of employment solutions firm Emprender, believes digitization has contributed to a great extent. loss of human connection in layoffs. “It’s easy to ‘light a fire’ because it’s just a matter of talking to a person who connects to a 417 computer and in a system it’s just a matter of pressing a few buttons. You calm down because with this it’s as easy as pressing a button” .
But if the personnel restructuring landscape looks complicated this year, the conditions in which some companies are laying off their employees make it more complicated.
“Nor does it look good that many companies have brazenly used the excuse of ‘insolvency’ to skip compliance with the regulations. legal obligation In connection with the termination of the employment contract and workers’ compensation. This should not be said about the existence of career transition programs. Companies are tearing up the shirts that employees were asked to wear and creating a breakdown of mutually dependent human networks and ecosystems,” says Juan Dominguez, TrueSearch’s Managing Partner for Latin America.
Unique Talent, Is There Opportunity In The Market?
In a positive outlook for the medium term, experts agree that the market still has the capacity to absorb those who are losing their jobs. Barbara Mejia explains that startup newly built Growing more can help stabilize the situation.
“the subject of mass layoffs It’s going to stabilize at some point, what you have to focus on is staying attractive in the labor market because the positions that will remain in demand are the ones with the biggest shortages. We also need to invest in internal training and personal training, say experts.
Jesús Salas agrees that, despite the context of cuts, there is still active recruitment and companies that take advantage of the talent available in the market. “Moreover, in the midst of restructuring that companies do, the cuts are directed to positions that are not critical to strengthen personnel in key areas or sectors.”
“In Mexico, despite the fact that we have seen talent impacted, we also see companies that continue to expand and major global brands It continues to penetrate the Latin American market”, he added.
In this positive perspective, Luciano Gonzalez believes that the wave of layoffs could represent a significant opportunity for Mexico. “It may happen that companies want to nurture their talent in our country or for talent capital investment Lay the foundation here. Mexico could be a very good growth scenario”.
