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Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

blogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#161

Post by sgerenser »

notch656c wrote: post #97
galdosdi wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's useful for 60 days, since for 60 days (or maybe it's 90 or 30, I forget -- look it up yourself if you need it, don't listen to me) you can elect it retroactively. So you can go without insurance, and as long as you haven't hit the 60 days, you can retroactively pay for it if a devastating emergency happens. Actually dealing with this would be a huge logistical hassle, and god help you if you're hospitalized, unc…

That would explain why COBRA is so insanely expensive.... No one is buying it unless they retroactively needed it and thus the risk pool is sky high

No, that’s not it. The cost is sky high because its the price that your employer, plus you normally pay. At tech companies in particular where the employer usually picks up 90-100% of the cost, it makes COBRA look crazy expensive when you suddenly have to pay 100% instead of 10%.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#162

Post by gfo »

aaomidi wrote: post #140
jsiepkes wrote: post #65

Satya is appointed by shareholders, not by employees. Employees can't fire Satya. And while employees might give him a hard time for this, shareholders can definitely give him a harder time if they see a (potential) decline in dividend. So cutting cost to keep dividends steady with a decline in profitability and revenue is the easiest fight for him. While it sucks, when working for a large tech company which is publi…

Employees can strike. Let’s see how fast the stock tanks then :)

Most employees at tech firms, Microsoft included, are awash in their employer's stock. It's not in their best interest to intentionally tank the stock.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#163

Post by skinnymuch »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #38
themitigating wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is Microsoft doesn't have to be so generous.

And yet they are. Even though they could give you nothing, they chose otherwise.

They aren’t doing it from the goodness of their hearts.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#164

Post by bork1 »

Seems predictable that this announcement would come right after switching to unlimited PTO. I would imagine this reduces the money that the company plans to pay out by quite a bit if they used to pay outgoing employees for unused PTO. Maybe I'm being unnecessarily cynical, though.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#165

Post by notch656c »

sgerenser wrote: post #161
notch656c wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would explain why COBRA is so insanely expensive.... No one is buying it unless they retroactively needed it and thus the risk pool is sky high

No, that’s not it. The cost is sky high because its the price that your employer, plus you normally pay. At tech companies in particular where the employer usually picks up 90-100% of the cost, it makes COBRA look crazy expensive when you suddenly have to pay 100% instead of 10%.

I believe it; but is interesting in the context that I have purchased ACA plans on the open market comparable to my company insurance, and they were far far below the cobra price. For reference a basically identical ACA healthcare.gov plan I bought for ~1k when COBRA charged something around $3k.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#166

Post by bhouston »

bork1 wrote: post #164

Seems predictable that this announcement would come right after switching to unlimited PTO. I would imagine this reduces the money that the company plans to pay out by quite a bit if they used to pay outgoing employees for unused PTO. Maybe I'm being unnecessarily cynical, though.

I think it is more about the employees who stay. Giving unlimited PTO is a way to make the remaining employees more happy. So it is like a way to try to balance out the negative effects of the layoff on team moral...

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#167

Post by O__________O »

omnicognate wrote: post #151
O__________O wrote: post #143

Interview with Microsoft’s CEO was posted by WSJ within past 24-hours that includes questions about if workers should be concerned about AI taking their jobs. My understanding was he expected companies to retrain their workforce to leverage AI. I would be super curious to hear his reasoning for why Microsoft did not take his own advice. Satya Nadella: Microsoft's Products Will Soon Access Open AI Tools Like ChatGPT |…

> Microsoft did not take his own advice. This assumes AI taking people's jobs has anything to do with these layoffs. The press release mentions AI, but not in that context. I don't think these people are being laid off because MS is getting ChatGPT to write their code instead.

Understand your response, though my understanding is he meant AI would enable employees to be retrained using AI to create more value — not that the employees would be replaced by AI; meaning even a non-tech employee would become a tech employee using AI and as a result would become valuable enough not to fire After being retrained.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#168

Post by petilon »

thr0w4w4ymsft wrote: post #2

MSFT manager of 25+ person team here with no actual heads up on this. The writing has been on the wall for months though from internal comms so this should come as a surprise to no one. No one on my team has any information about this beyond the Satya email, so this is either a "no news is good news" situation (assuming you don't actually want to be laid off), or a poorly executed process. I'm hoping for the former f…

It is a poorly executed process: "... the reduction of our overall workforce by 10,000 jobs through the end of FY23 Q3". So employees will have to live with uncertainty for the next three months!

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#169

Post by coremoff »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #4

>U.S.-benefit-eligible employees will receive a variety of benefits, including above-market severance pay, continuing healthcare coverage for six months, continued vesting of stock awards for six months, career transition services, and 60 days’ notice prior to termination, regardless of whether such notice is legally required. Wow, that way way, better than what we get by law in my EU country when you're laid off (ju…

A lot of that will be to avoid costly lawsuits with employment tribunals etc.; cheaper for companies like microsoft, trying to reduce headcount, when a large number of their employess have the resources to fight (and after the layoffs will also have the time too)
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