More Than Half Of UK Tech Workers Are Getting Ready To Be Fired
According to research, the global tech industry continues to raise concerns regarding job security, and as a result, more than half of UK tech workers are preparing for layoffs. According to the results of a survey that was carried out by CWJobs and consisted of 2,000 tech workers based in the UK, 53% of respondents had already applied for new positions because they were concerned about being laid off from their current employers. According to Layoffs.fyi, the total number of tech layoffs in 2023 has reached 57k in just 25 days, up from 159k in 2022.
Inflation and the looming threat of a recession are unmistakably to blame for these layoffs, and the majority of tech companies are also seeing their fortunes reversal and their hopes diminish. Even though the larger economy is chugging along with a low unemployment rate and an annualized growth rate of 3.2 percent in the third quarter, they are cutting back, laying off employees, and watching their financial valuations plummet.
For more than a decade, investors sent their money to Silicon Valley in search of returns, where it was invested in numerous start-ups that might not have been considered in less exciting times. Extreme valuations made it simple to issue shares, take out loans, or offer attractive deals to potential customers in order to rapidly increase market share or expand aggressively.
Current employees and recent graduates looking for work in Silicon Valley are affected by the hiring freeze in the tech industry. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, announced massive layoffs at Facebook’s parent company Meta late last year, with 13% of the global workforce losing their jobs.
Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Twitter, followed suit and laid off roughly half of the company’s workforce. It is evident that Northern California’s tech giants are ruled by confusion, as approximately 4,000 employees lost their jobs at Twitter and some were asked to return within a day. In 2023, Amazon reportedly laid off nearly 18,000 employees, continuing the trend.
The search for a resolution to the devastation is the primary concern as Spotify trims its workforce by 6% globally. CEO Daniel Ek of Spotify made the market assumptions that led the Swedish tech giant in the wrong direction public.
“In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing before our revenue growth,” London has the worst chance, with a 63% probability. Age also appeared to be a big factor, as only 24% of workers over 55 were preparing for layoffs with job applications, while 62% of tech workers between the ages of 18 and 24 were doing so.
Dominic Harvey, director at CWJobs, stated, “Tech workers are showing signs of uncertainty about job security – likely triggered by what they are reading in the news and on social media.”
“Employers must go above and beyond to reassure them and cultivate a strong sense of security regarding their current position and long-term career prospects. Over the course of the upcoming months and years, this could be crucial to attracting and keeping the much-needed talent.
Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, and other tech giants have collectively eliminated tens of thousands of jobs. Startups are also feeling the pressure, with Paddle and Beamery cutting staff this month among them.
Harvey added, “The jobs market remains highly competitive; therefore, employees or candidates will find plenty of opportunities elsewhere if they are made to feel insecure or uncertain at any stage, from the job advertisement to employment.”
Recently, Mark Zuckerberg came forward to accept responsibility for the layoffs. He acknowledged that the hasty hiring had been a mistake. There was no evidence to suggest that the frenetic online activity and ad spending of the mid-Covid era would continue after the pandemic, despite the fact that they had made so many hires.
Long-term productivity is bound to suffer if businesses treat new hires as filler positions. However, they will make more careful choices when they consider how their current hiring decisions will affect future hires.
