The new year begins on a grim note for the tech sector, as global companies have already fired more employees in just the first five days of January than they did in the whole of December 2022.
According to Layoff Tracker, a tracking website, a total of 28,096 workers have been laid off till January 5 by global tech companies. This is 64.5 per cent more than the layoffs in December. In December, tech companies announced 17,074 layoffs.
According to the data, layoffs in 2022 were 64.9 per cent higher than layoffs in 2021. The increasing number only indicates that 2023 will be worse than 2022.
In November last year, Gaurav Munjal, CEO of Indian edtech firm Unacademy tweeted that, "2023 will be worse than 2022 for Tech. This is what I keep hearing."
Here are the companies that have laid off workers in the first five days of January 2023.
Amazon laid off 18,000 workers
Amazon, which accounts for more than half the numbers so far, announced the layoff of 18,000 workers as the company said that they had hired fast in the last few years. The impacted employees will be informed starting on January 18. IT will impact employees of all levels, and the company is working out a plan to help those who will be impacted by the layoff.
Salesforce fires 10% of its workforce
Salesforce announced on Thursday that it will lay off 10 per cent of its workforce, which impacts over 7,000 employees. The company is also expected to close some offices after rapidly hiring during the pandemic. The company had also laid off hundreds of employees in November last year.
Genesis cuts 30% of its staff
Genesis, an embattled crypto lender, has reportedly cut 30 per cent of its staff, and it is claimed to be a second round of cuts in recent months. The headcount of the company has now been reduced to 145.
Stitch Fix lays off one fifth of its workforce
Stitch Fix, an online apparel services company, will lay off one fifth of its salaried employees in addition to shutting down its Salt Lake City distribution centre, the interim CEO Katrina Lake said in a memo to the staff. This is the company's second round of cuts after June 2022, when around 15 per cent of the workforce was laid off.
Adobe eliminates jobs in sales team
The company eliminated approximately 100 jobs in the sales team. Adobe Inc. shifted some of its employees to other internal roles.
