Microsoft Conducts Another Round of Layoffs: Multiple Departments & Locations to Be Affected

Microsoft conducted a fresh round of layoffs this week. The total number of employees that will be affected by the layoff has not been revealed yet but it’s known for sure it will affect different teams and locations.

Posts on LinkedIn suggest that most of the job cuts will happen in product and program management functions.

The news was also confirmed by a Microsoft spokesperson who said that this is a part of usual organizational and workforce adjustments.

‘We will continue to prioritize and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners.’ – Microsoft Spokesperson

Microsoft & Layoffs

The news is not all that surprising given the time of the year. The company’s fiscal year ended on June 30 and it’s normal for companies to go through some restructuring. It did something similar in 2023 as well as in the first few months of 2024.

For example, last month Microsoft cut 1000 jobs across the Azure cloud unit and HoloLens mixed-reality organization.

Similarly, in January 2000 employees were laid off from its gaming unit just a few months after it acquired Activision Blizzard for $69 billion – one of its biggest deals so far. It also fired its entire Ethics and Society Team in March 2023.

So why is Microsoft letting so many people go?

Mass Hiring

The first reason is the hiring surge during the pandemic. A lot of companies between 2020-2022 ended up hiring more people to keep up with the increased demands.

However, as people started stepping out once again post-pandemic, the demand for tech products went down and these companies were stuck with too many people but not enough work. Hence, some had to be let go.

Impact of AI

The other reason is AI. The tech industry right now is going through a massive makeover with things like automation and cloud computing taking the front seat.

Hence, a lot of companies are going through restructuring, which basically means people are being let go, departments are being merged and funds are being reallocated.

Well, Microsoft isn’t the only company that’s conducting multiple rounds of layoffs. 5 major companies announced fresh rounds of layoffs earlier in March.

In total, last year, tech companies laid off 260,000 employees altogether and this year, 100,000 employees have already been let go in just the first 6 months.