2023’s first 15 days see 24K techies fired from jobs: Layoffs.FYI

The year 2023 began on a bad note for tech workers globally and 91 companies have laid off more than 24,000 tech employees in the first 15 days this month, signaling worse days ahead, said job cuts tracker Layoffs.

About 24,151 tech workers lost their jobs, dominated by companies like Amazon, Salesforce, Coinbase and others, according to layoff tracking website Layoffs.fyi.

Layoffs

layoffs in 2023 so far

Crypto lending exchange Crypto.com last week announced that the company will reduce its global workforce by approximately 20 per cent amid ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events.

In India, companies like Ola (which fired 200 employees), voice automated startup Skit.ai, dominated the headlines in January.In December last year, over 17,000 tech employees were shown the door.

According to the website which has been tracking job losses since the start of the pandemic, 153,110 workers were let go in 2022, led by companies like Meta, Twitter, Oracle, Nvidia, Snap, Uber, Spotify, Intel and Salesforce, among others.

The number of layoffs reached its nadir in November, which saw 51,489 tech workers lose their jobs.

Google is another Big Tech company expected to take harsh steps to reduce its headcount in early 2023. Approximately 6 per cent of Google employees could be sacked over “not having enough impact”, according to a report by The Information.

Google layoffs in 2023 could see as many as 11,000 employees lose their jobs. It means that 2023 is going to become the worst year in the history of the tech world. All eyes are now on the Big Tech quarterly results that will come out at the end of this month.

What’s Moonlighting? Infosys bans, IBM warns, Wipro cracks whip

As the issue of moonlighting or working elsewhere to make extra money in India is plaguing many tech giants after the Work From Home concession that entailed tech employees work remotely, several Indian tech giants are facing the challenge to keep their workforce committed and focused.

The ethical issue has been raised by tech services giant Infosys first, followed by cloud Major IBM on Wednesday. Infosys has already made it clear that the practice is not ethical and the company may fire those who are moonlighting.

However, no company has so far issued any framework to monitor its employees who are moonlighting as legally it is still daunting to gather evidence and withstand legal suits in courts. Secondly, the problem is not new in smaller and minor companies which have been struggling to pay higher wages to employees to retain them. Often, they blink to let the workforce work elsewhere in non-working hours.

Moreover, the issue is legally overwhelming for the companies as strict guidelines or framework of supervising or monitoring employees is often termed as violation of privacy rules in many courts and they may stand loose the legal battle even after firing such employees.

But the issue has already bogged down even major companies. Besides infosys, IBM Managing Director  Sandip Patel said that the company’s position is exactly that of the overall industry in the country. “All of our workers when they are employed, they sign an agreement which says that they are going to be working full-time for IBM. So moonlighting is not ethically right for them to get into,” he said.

However, some startups are encouraging employees to opt for moonlighting or work outside their primary working hours. Swiggy has encouraged the practice but the traditional companies are calling it cheating and unethical and issued warning to employees from practising Moonlighting even in extra hours.

In one case, a techie who was interviewed by a Hyderabad-based company found that he hired another techie to work on his behalf, while he is engaged in working on other projects. He has been summarily fired now but the issue has brought to light the glaring anomaly in misuse of a pact with the company.

Infosys has already warned employees on Monday against moonlighting, saying that involvement in such practice can result in “disciplinary action including termination of employment”. “No two-timing, no moonlighting”, the company said in an internal memo, adding that it “strictly discourages dual employment”.

Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji recently said that the concept of a second job amounts clearly to “plain and simple” cheating. “There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating — plain and simple,” he emphasised.