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Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

blogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#181

Post by Apocryphon »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #153
jsiepkes wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only honest thing he could have said would be: "Look, in the end this about shareholder value and we need to sacrifice some people in order to create shareholder value. I know, it sucks, but let's not kid ourselves, we all knew that's the game we are playing here at Microsoft (or any publicly traded company). We got some nice perks while it lasted but unfortunately the party is over now. We will do our best to en…

To be honest, it's more like: "Look, investors have low confidence in the market right now and all our competitors are doing it. I need to send a signal or the stock is going to keep going down and I wont get my full yearly bonus. In the end it's all about the quaterly share price. I know, it sucks, but let's not kid ourselves, we all knew that's the game we are playing here: go work for a small company if you want l…

“Don’t worry, the next time the market booms, we’ll be sure to do the same dang ol’ thing again.”

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#182

Post by Prolixium »

petilon wrote: post #168
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!

Maybe they /want/ to see some increase in attrition due to the uncertainty. It's a very rough way of going about that, though.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#183

Post by dubbel »

bhouston wrote: post #166
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...

Are people still happy about unlimited PTO being introduced? I thought it was shown that it reduces the average PTO taken.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#184

Post by munchbunny »

dubbel wrote: post #183
bhouston wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Are people still happy about unlimited PTO being introduced? I thought it was shown that it reduces the average PTO taken.

It's mixed. From my personal observations the more junior folks and the people less up to date on the discourse around unlimited PTO are happier, but people who are aware of the knock-on effects on company culture, pressure to deliver, etc. are unhappy.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#186

Post by NGRhodes »

pjc50 wrote: post #117
winReInstall wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you actually signal you want to be laid off? Is that something you say when the news goes out? Loads of "NoFuture" cooperate punk in the FAMG. Monopoly does not make the work interesting.

In places where a "consultation process" is legally mandated, that's one of the things you get to discuss. In UK redundancies I have been asked "do you want to take voluntary redundancy?"

> "do you want to take voluntary redundancy?"

That seems like a trick question to me.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#187

Post by vi2837 »

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 |…

Yeah, they want lay off workers because they need money for making big investment in ChatGPT :)

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#188

Post by coldpie »

skinnymuch wrote: post #155
w0m wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument would be sustainability I believe.

Microsoft will survive even if they never fire another person for years.

Microsoft spending $70B in cash this year is proof of that, in case anyone reading doubts the above statement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_acquisition_of_Activi...

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#189

Post by aeze »

DarkNova6 wrote: post #178

> Could there be a tech recession? Yes. Was there a bubble in valuations? Absolutely. Did Meta overhire? Probably. I'm glad we agree > But is that why they are laying people off? Of course not. Meta has plenty of money. These companies are all making money. How does this follow any logic at all. He does not even dispute that overhiring took place. Should companies continue with a stupid hiring frenzy until they run o…

I think you may be unintentionally misinterpreting some of the items you've quoted.

1) Layoffs != Hiring frenzy. A company can slow or stop hiring but also not do layoffs. It's actually a common way to downsize softly.

2) Most of these companies are profitable. Running out of money isn't likely.

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