Google Continues Layoff Rampage With Latest In January 2024

Date: January 12, 2024

Google, PayTM, and many other big tech names run their latest layoff round, starting from the first week of 2024. Google is at the top of the list.

The shadow of the layoff phase continues into 2024, leaving professional life dwellers in a neverending dilemma - Will I be let go, too? When will be my turn? What do I do? Google leads the way after announcing the layoff of hundreds of employees in the first week of 2024. PayTm has also joined the bandwagon by announcing ~1000 layoffs soon. Flipkart is also on the same path with plans to let go of 5-7% of people, summing up to 1500.

Why Did Mass Layoffs Begin?

The rapid growth of tech giants and the IT industry has led to many people making it their lifelong career. However, the developments in the last three years of the tech world have changed the perspective almost completely. The pandemic halt, followed by the boom of AI and the global economic slowdown, has resulted in a shakeup of the entire work ecosystem. Big tech companies have laid off thousands of employees irrespective of past performance, business impact, or time-in-market. The main villain they associate with is business slowdown. 

Is AI Continuing The Layoff Trend?

If we look at the financial performance of the companies that conducted major layoffs over the last three years, it is not as significant. Another hidden layer that no company admits is AI’s rapidly growing adoption in various business functions. The field of AI itself has raked in more layoffs in just 2 years than other traditional tech ones.

Most companies laying off have ramped up their investments in Artificial Intelligence development, collaborations, and even acquisitions. The huge amount of money being put into enhancing AI capabilities during uncertainty can be a major cause of the ongoing layoffs. 

Has The Tech Growth Bubble Finally Burst?

The tech industry has been growing rapidly for the last decade with only insignificant fall periods in between, and quick recoveries from them. The rapid growth has also impacted the share market keeping the trends bullish throughout the post-pandemic period. 

The recent Russia-Ukraine war, Israel-Palestine huddle, and economic slowdown in the west have caused a sudden loss of business grounds for big names to sustain profitable functions. These factors combined have burned huge holes in the tech giants’ pockets. If this is the beginning of the tech growth bubble’s bursting, then we might see more layoffs incoming soon.