Recent IT Layoffs: Numbers on the Rise!

Mass layoffs? Salary-cuts? No hikes? No incentives? No promotions? Increased working hours? Added work pressure? …and more??? Yes, we are talking about recession… ugh… it’s killing us all. And it’s happening almost everywhere.

Reasons given…? Well, why get into that when we all know that it basically comes down to just one thing – cost cutting!

Recently, TCS asked several employees from their UK office to leave. TCS, Mumbai laid off many employees from their marketing team in London, as well as a large number of consultants. They are reviewing variable pay components on employee salaries and even planning to increase working hours by 10-15 % over the current 40-hour, five-day week cycle. [Source: indiatimes]

And not just TCS, other IT companies as well are walking the same path. In an earlier post on Devils Workshop, Rahul had shared with us an IT Layoff Tracker. I will be using that to share some recent 2009 layoff stats:

Recent 2009 IT Layoffs:

• Sony Ericsson (17-Apr-2009): Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB said it plans to cut another 2,000 jobs after its phone shipments and market share both dipped during this year’s first quarter.

• Google (26-Mar-2009): Google plans to layoff 200 people in its sales and marketing group. Earlier, on 15-Jan-2009: Google laid off 100 recruiters.

• IBM (26-Mar-2009): IBM said it is notifying employees that some jobs are being eliminated. It wouldn’t confirm numbers, but several sources pegged the cuts at 4,000 to 5,000. The Wall Street Journal reported that IBM is planning to layoff about 5,000 U.S. employees. Earlier, on 27-Jan-2009: IBM had already laid off 4,200 employees.

• Micron (23-Feb-2009): Micron plans to phase out 200mm wafer manufacturing operations in Boise, Idaho. That will initially result in 500 layoffs, but as many as 2,000 people could lose their jobs.

• Sapient (14-Feb-2009): Sapient is cutting 300 jobs in India, about 8% of its global workforce.

• Nokia (11-Feb-2009): Nokia plans to close a research center in Finland, cutting up to 320 jobs, and trim 90 jobs in global support and new business.

• NetApp (09-Feb-2009): NetApp to cut about 6% of workforce, almost 480 people.

• Cisco (04-Feb-2009): Cisco CEO John Chambers said the company could cut 1,500 to 2,000 jobs as part of a realignment of resources.

• Panasonic (04-Feb-2009): Panasonic to cut 15,000 jobs as it forecasts $4.3B loss. Panasonic expects to shed those jobs by March 2010, following its first yearly loss in six years.

• Novell (31-Jan-2009): Novell spokesman Ian Bruce said the company laid off less than 100 out of 4,200 employees worldwide. The number of layoffs cited by Bruce is far smaller than the numbers bouncing around the Web.

• NEC (30-Jan-2009): NEC to layoff 20,000, close plants as losses widen. NEC, one of Japan’s biggest electrical and electronics companies, will layoff 9,500 staff in Japan, look to early retirement for a further 450 domestic staff and cut 9,000 workers overseas.

• AOL (28-Jan-2009): Time Warner’s underperforming AOL Internet unit will layoff 700 employees, about 10% of its staff, in response to the global economic downturn. Those employees who avoid the ax still face bad news: They will not get a merit pay increase this year.

• Sprint (26-Jan-2009): Sprint’s cuts will affect people at “all levels” of the company and reduce labor costs by $1.2B. The company employs 56,000. Sprint plans to layoff 8,000 by April.

• Microsoft (22-Jan-2009): Microsoft to cut 5,000 jobs as profits fall. Microsoft said it plans to cut jobs in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and IT over the next 18 months.

• Ericsson (21-Jan-2009): Following declining profits for its fourth quarter, Ericsson will layoff 5,000 employees, including about 1,000 in the Stockholm area.

• Intel (21-Jan-2009): Intel’s changes will affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees worldwide. Not all those will lose their jobs, as Intel plans to offer some positions at other facilities.

• Motorola (14-Jan-2009): Motorola plans to layoff another 4,000 employees, mostly from its Mobile Device business, in addition to 3,000 layoffs announced during last year’s final quarter. About 3,000 of the jobs will be cut from the handset business, with the other 1,000 coming from corporate functions and other business units.

• SAP (14-Jan-2009): SAP is cutting about 100 jobs in the U.S. and Canada, related to its “continuing integration [of] Business Objects.

• Lenovo (09-Jan-2009): Lenovo to layoff 2,500 staff, cut management pay. The layoffs, described as part of a “resource redeployment plan,” represent 11% of Lenovo’s global workforce. Lenovo will also cut the pay of managers by 30% to 50%, including bonuses.

• Oracle (08-Jan-2009): The Wall Street Journal reported that Oracle laid off 500 employees in its North American sales and consulting divisions.

Scary, eh? What a way to beat the recession?

[Sources: indiatimes | Computer World]

[Image Credits: Geek & Poke]