Portrait of changing times in tech.
Meta is closing its Manhattan office, and giving notice to 12,000 employees that their services are no longer required – as the stock has dropped 55% in the last 18 months. San Francisco-based Docusign will lay off nearly 10% of its 7400 employees, Twilio will fire 11% of its workforce, Intel is cutting thousands from its ranks, and Twitter’s new Chief Twit is cleaning house: Elon Musk is on his way to a reported 75% reduction in strength. Meanwhile, Apple has laid off about 100 recruiters, a sign of a hiring slowdown. “Silicon Valley is seeing layoffs across the board for the first time since 2008,” Dan Ives tells Insider. Ives, a tech analyst at Wedbush, shares troubling words: “Winter is coming to the tech world.” How can workers prepare for this new season?
“It is a poorly kept secret in Silicon Valley that companies ranging from Google to Meta to Twitter to Uber could achieve similar levels of revenue with far fewer people,” Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital, wrote in a recent open letter to Meta. In early August, Google SEO Sundar Pichai was already reading the tea leaves, raising concerns about the company’s productivity on CNBC. Recently Google’s parent, Alphabet, has announced a hiring slowdown and a reduction in travel – a significant departure from last April, when employees enjoyed a private concert by Lizzo.
Technology has long been a hotbed of special employee benefits. Companies have competed with catering, massages, and the like, designed to attract the brightest and best. For these seduced employees, the reduction and removal of commonly accepted extras was viewed as outrageous – or impossible. Reductions in swag, exquisitely prepared meals, yoga studios, meditation centers and similar productivity-stroking perks just haven’t been part of the tech workforce reality. Until now. “Straight up heresy,” was how Bill Gurley, a venture capitalist, described the situation in Insider.
Employees were up in arms when Meta, the parent of Facebook, decided to limit the timing of free meals in the spring. Then, when they took away the laundry service, frustration increased. A hiring freeze soon followed, and now: a potential headcount reduction of 20% is on the horizon.
For young employees facing this transition, there are several things to keep in mind during times of contraction, reduced hiring and the removal of the espresso machine from the break room:
- There is a Hiring Shortage Right Now: remember that there are 1.7 jobs for every worker who wants one. And that ratio may not hold in technology, where finding workers in Silicon Valley (and every other valley) is a big challenge. The Observer reports that the labor crunch is still alive and well, even after tech giants have fired tens of thousands of workers. For knowledge employees, the numbers say that there are lots of opportunities. Looking at the work, instead of the perk, consider the contribution you want to make – not just the swag you want to take.
- “Profit is a Function of Risk” – those famous words, by economist Adam Smith, remind us of what we find inside times of churn and restructuring. Namely, the potential profits inside of flexibility and an expansive mindset. Forbes reports that internal candidates are receiving more consideration for promotion – have you put in your request yet? There’s never been a better time to prepare for this new season. That doesn’t mean just dusting off your LinkedIn profile – it means reducing your risk of a layoff by preparing for your next gig, now.
- A MicroPerspective, in a Macro World – the macro unemployment rate in the US is 3.5% right now. But if you’re out of work, your personal (micro) unemployment rate is 100%. Trends and statistics can inform us of the big picture, but your career is your own personal masterpiece (if you choose to see it as such). In times of change and disruption, remember: you don’t have to go it alone. The best time to start career coaching, or talking with a business coach, is right now.
Companies today are trying to do more with less. Maximizing worker output is nothing new, but now economic factors have cooled off the tech sector. Note that worker productivity is also at the center of the looming railroad strike. The point is, no sector or industry is immune from wanting the most from employees. And the nature of work is continuing to shift, as company leaders face the reality of current economic headwinds. The days of cheap money (low interest rates) and aggressive tech hiring have faded. Don’t wait to prepare for what’s already here. Take time to consider how internal positions or outside opportunities can create growth on a micro level, even during times of a macro contraction.
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