Microsoft has released the latest update of Windows 11 (22H2), dubbed its ‘Moment 2’, which comes with some highly-anticipated features, including the new AI-powered Bing Chat in the taskbar.

The news comes shortly after the company announced its ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine integration, designed to help users find answers to their questions faster.

The new version of Windows 11 will also include voice access improvements, iPhone connectivity, task manager search functionality, a new search bar option, screen recording and more.

What Are Microsoft ‘Moments’?

Microsoft ‘Moments’ are the routine software updates released by Microsoft throughout the year to introduce new features to its latest operating system, Windows 11.

The updates, known as ‘Moments’ were introduced in 2022, to allow new features to be released more frequently, as opposed to waiting for the annual feature update that happens just once a year.

The first Windows 11 ‘Moment’ was released in October 2022, and included a file explorer with tabs, suggested actions, taskbar features, and the previously-removed ability to right-click on the taskbar to open the task manager.

Microsoft released Windows 11 in 2021. While the Windows 10 operating system is still functional, only Windows 11 users will benefit from ‘Moment’ updates, and all support for Windows 10 will end in 2025.

What’s Included in the Windows 11 ‘Moment 2’ Update

The Windows 11 22H2 ‘Moment 2’ is packed with a number of new features including a Phone Link for iOS, a searchable task manager, and the highly-anticipated Bing AI-powered chat, linked directly in the Windows search bar. The AI will be able to perform searches, generate content and answer questions. Talking to Bleeping Computer, Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer, Panos Panay, described the update as a ‘major step forward’ for the business.

“Today, we take the next major step forward and combine the incredible breadth and ease of use of the Windows PC with the amazing capability of the new AI-powered Bing… Soon hundreds of millions of Windows 11 users can get access to this incredible new technology to search, chat, answer questions and generate content from right on their Windows taskbar.” — Microsoft Chief Product Officer, Panos Panay

Microsoft hopes that AI-tools will become more common in the workplace, and has invested billions of dollars into its ongoing partnership with OpenAI to upgrade its own applications like Excel, Microsoft Projects, and Microsoft Teams — which now utilizes ChatGPT to take meeting notes during conference calls. While the ‘Moment 2’ AI integration will only consist of a Bing entry point in the Windows search home, there are hopes of a more direct integration in the future.

It should be noted that the new Phone Link iOS feature, which will allow users to access their iPhone messages directly in Windows 11, and make or receive phone calls directly in the app, will only be accessible as a preview for select users at present. However, this could be a game-changer for businesses looking to better integrate their communication channels between their work laptops and phones, in the future.

The Task Manager search bar will allow users to filter processes by ID or name, making it easier to terminate problematic tasks efficiently. See a full list of the Windows 11 ‘Moment 2’ updates expected to roll out in the coming weeks, below:

Windows 11 ‘Moment 2’ new features

• Bing Chat in Windows Search taskbar
• Screen recording in the snipping tool
• Tabs in Notepad
• New search bar options – allowing users to customize search to their preference
• Search functionality in Task Manager
• A taskbar system ‘tray overflow menu’
• A full-screen widgets board
• Voice access improvements
• Windows studio effects in quick settings

All Windows 11 users will receive the new ‘Moment 2’ features as part of the mandatory March 2023 patch updates – which will include security fixes too.

How to Get Windows 11 ‘Moments 2’

As usual with Microsoft, all existing Windows 11 users will receive the ‘Moment 2’ features as part of the mandatory patch updates, so if you’re a Windows 11 user you should already have these new features. New Windows 11 users will be able to download Windows 11 (22H2, build 22621.1344) with the new features, automatically.

To manually install the Windows update, users can action the following steps:

1. Open settings
2. Select ‘windows update’
3. ‘Click ‘check for updates’
4. Install

Like most operating system updates, this update is free.

What the fork? Microsoft Teams is working on a new feature that would allow users to censor profanity from live captions throughout the platform.

There’s no denying that Microsoft Teams is one of the more popular collaboration tools on the market, largely due to the vast array of updates that come along with it. These improvements are always driven by customer feedback, in service of a more capable and functional platform.

Now, Microsoft Teams could soon be making another change related to whether or not your swear words will get through to the rest of your team.

Microsoft Teams Could Add Profanity Filter

Spotted on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, a new feature could be coming to Microsoft Teams to give users the power to censor profanity from live captions in meetings.

“With the newly introduced toggle for turn on/off profanity filtering, user will now be able to control whether they want to continue to leverage the profanity filtering capability provided out of box, or, if they want to see every word as-is.”

Obviously, the swear words you use will only be censored in the live captions, as Microsoft Teams has not yet developed the technology to bleep a person in real time.

Additionally, you’ll have time to use profanity before it’s removed from live captions as well, as the update is not scheduled to go into effect until May 2023.

Is Microsoft Teams Good for Business?

We’ve done extensive research at Tech.co on business tools like Microsoft Teams. From analyzing features to evaluating pricing plans, we’re committed to making sure businesses can make the right decisions when it comes to professional software.

We can confidently say that Microsoft Teams is a rock solid option for the average business, particularly if you’re already set up with Microsoft 365. Sure, it can be a bit complicated at times, but with a lot of features and a vast library of available integrations, Microsoft Teams is good for business.

In fact, one of the best aspects of Microsoft Teams is updates like this. The platform is constantly improving based on customer feedback, so any issues you might have with the platform will likely be solved before you get too frustrated. Feel free to check out our Microsoft Team vs Google Meet guide for more information.

TikTok just announced that it would set a default time limit of 60 minutes per day for users under 18 years old in an effort to curb the mental health crisis among its younger userbase.

There’s no denying that TikTok has seen its fair share of controversy in recent years. From the government bans to its questionable trends, the social media platform seems to never leave the news cycle for very long.

Now, TikTok is hoping to quell the storm of criticism by curbing the addictive behaviors of teens that perhaps use the app a little too much.

TikTok Announces Default Time Limit for Teens

Announced in a press release this week, TikTok announced new features aimed at making the app a better place for teen users, including new default screen time limits and screen time reports.

“We believe digital experiences should bring joy and play a positive role in how people express themselves, discover ideas, and connect.” – Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety at TikTok

These new time restrictions are not set in stone, though, as teen users will be able to input a passcode to bypass the 60-minute limit. This will still curb usage, claims Keenan, as users will be forced “to make an active decision to extend that time.”

Additionally, if teen users deactivate the 60-minute time limit and use the app for more than 100 minutes per day, the TikTok app will prompt them with a notification to set a time limit, displaying a breakdown of screen time to further illustrate the value of time off of TikTok.

Is TikTok Addictive?

There have been plenty of studies done on the addictive nature of social media, with experts explaining that the scrolling on social media isn’t entirely dissimilar to recreational drug usage as far as brain chemistry is concerned.

“When you’re scrolling… sometimes you see a photo or something that’s delightful and it catches your attention. And you get that little dopamine hit in the brain… in the pleasure center of the brain. So, you want to keep scrolling.” – Dr Julia Albright, Digital Sociologist and Lecturer at USC

There’s also more than enough data to show that social media and TikTok have a negative effect on mental health, particularly for young people. Even the American Psychological Association published a report stating that reduction of social media usage could improve the esteem of emotionally distressed minors.

So, at least TikTok is taking steps to quell this kind of usage, but bigger leaps may be needed to solve the problem.

After serving businesses for almost six years, Microsoft Teams’ free Classic plan is officially retiring on April 12, forcing all remaining users to switch to a paid version to retain their chats, files, and data.

Microsoft Teams (free) will still be available to businesses looking for a complimentary web conferencing service, but annoyingly, migrating data from the legacy version will not be possible.

The changes will come just two months after Microsoft Teams announced the release of its new Premium tier that features a number of tools backed by OpenAI like intelligent recapping and automated note generation.

Currently using Microsoft’s Classic tier? Here’s what these changes will mean for you, and guidance on the different steps your business can take next.

Microsoft Teams Classic Plan is Ending on April 12

Microsoft has decided to call curtains on its free Classic plan —with the company permanently halting its services on April 12 this year.

This doesn’t mark the end of Team’s free offering though. The soon-to-be sheltered plan is being replaced by Microsoft Teams’ new free tier, which contains many of the same trappings as Classic, including unlimited group meetings for up to 60 minutes, meeting limits of 100, and up to 5GB of cloud storage per user.

But what does this mean for the thousands of businesses that currently depend on Microsoft’s free web conferencing service? Well, confusingly Classic users aren’t able to transfer chat data directly into the new free plan. Instead, the software company recommends backing up all Team files before April 12 before signing up for the new service. Or, upgrading to its paid Essentials package, which will cost companies $4 per user per month.

“You’ll be able to view and save files in your current account through April 12, 2023, however, none of it will transfer to your new account.” – Microsoft

By switching to Microsoft’s Essential package, businesses will be able to maintain full access to their chats, files, and meetings and unlock more benefits like unlimited group meetings for up to 30 hours, and generous call limits of up to 300 users.

Businesses willing to fork out slightly higher fees of $7 per month, per user can also opt for Microsoft’s new Premium tier. But what does the platforms’ recently released package include – and are its X features worth the extra cost?

Microsoft Teams Launches New OpenAI-Backed Premium Tier

In light of Microsoft’s recent partnership with OpenAI — the machine learning powerhouse that’s responsible for creating the world’s fastest-growing app, ChatGPT — the company has launched a new web conferencing tier; Microsoft Teams Premium.

The plan includes a number of features powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 AI language model, the upgraded version of GPT-3 that utilizes deep learning to generate human-like output. Features using this new smart technology include an intelligent recap tool that generates meeting notes automatically, automated reminder emails to drive up attendance for webinars, and improved live translation capabilities.

For businesses looking to drive up operational efficiency and workplace collaboration, this suite of smart features is likely to pay for itself over time. However, if you’re looking to keep overheads as low as possible, paying for conferencing services isn’t your business’s only option, as we explore next.

Not Willing to Upgrade? Here Are Your Other Options

If you’re a Teams loyalist, backing up your data and switching to Microsoft’s new free package may be your best bet.

However, despite its market dominance, Microsoft Teams isn’t the only quality free complimentary conference call service out there, and our insights suggest it might not be the best, either.

If you’re looking for a free feature-rich video calling tool, our research suggests Zoom is the number one solution. While its meeting times might not be as generous as Microsoft Team’s free tier, it offers flawless usability and a number of capabilities that Microsoft free lacks like recording tools for calls and access to over 1000+ integrations.

RingCentral is another worthy contender, with generous user limits of 100 participants and a 24-hour time limits on calls. There’s no limit on competitive services though, so see how our favorite free services compare in the table below.

Snapchat has just launched a chatbot powered by the same technology as ChatGPT, called “My AI”, which will be made available for use next week.

The social media platform, which has around 750 million monthly users, is the latest tech company to utilize the GPT-3 family of language models to create a new AI feature for its customers.

However, don’t expect this chatbot to discuss any and all matters at length – strict limitations mean that it will obediently adhere to established trust and safety guidelines.

Snapchat Launches “My AI”

“My AI”, in a nutshell, is Snapchat’s answer to ChatGPT. It uses the same technology to generate accurate answers to user queries but has repackaged it into a mobile-friendly tool that can generate those answers quickly and concisely.

Unfortunately, at present, the new feature will only be available to Snapchat Plus customers, but the company says it will make My AI available to all of the platform’s users, free or paid, in the near future.

Snapchat Plus is currently priced at $3.99 per month. The company will hope that the release of My AI will help them expand its paid user base, which currently sits at 2 million users, a small fraction of Snapchat’s total.

ChatGPT vs Snapchat My AI: What’s the Difference?

Snapchat has assured users that My AI will always adhere to the trust and safety guidelines it has been trained on, which means it’s safer but more restrictive than ChatGPT.

The other big difference between ChatGPT and Snapchat’s My AI is that the latter functions more like a persona-mimicking bot rather than a tool with a genuine business application like ChatGPT. This will also set My AI apart from Bard, Google’s soon-to-be-released ChatGPT alternative.

In keeping with its more human-like appearance, My AI will appear as another contact on your Snapchat for you to talk to at any time. Don’t expect it to weigh in on politics or use curse words though, as it’s programmed to partake in neither.

Snapchat: One of Foundry’s First Beneficiaries

My AI was only made possible thanks to Foundry, a developer platform launched by ChatGPT creators OpenAI. Snapchat is thought to be among the first clients, according to The Verge.

Now it’s got itself up and running, the social media platform will now be able to improve My AI with information gathered from chats, and even incorporate language models from other vendors.

The race to create the world’s most popular chatbot is well and truly on. With Snapchat’s My AI feature coming out of the blue, it’s anyone’s guess who might be next.

ChatGPT has been taking the western world by storm – over 100 million people are now thought to have had a conversation with the Chatbot in the three months since its launch, and it has since been incorporated into Microsoft Teams and search engine Bing.

Unfortunately, due to the Chinese government’s authoritarian laws presiding over the free speech of its citizens, it’s not officially accessible in the country – and the ruling party is clamping down on other ways to access it.

Alongside all this, Chinese companies like Baidu, Tencent, and ecommerce giant Ali Baba have been quietly researching and developing competing technology. Here’s how they’re doing so far – and what might slow them down.

China’s ChatBots: What’s Out There?

The release of ChatGPT for Bing – as well as the imminent launch of Google’s Bard AI chatbot – does make it feel like China is a world away from releasing a genuine competitor to either platform. But in reality, they don’t seem that far behind.

Perhaps the most significant project currently taking place is Ernie Bot, a chatbot being developed by the Chinese search engine Baidu and scheduled to launch in March.

Baidu CEO Robin Li has said that the bot is designed for Chinese language speakers and the Chinese market more generally, making it a more suitable platform, in theory, for citizens of the world’s largest country than its western analogs.

Jack Ma’s ecommerce behemoth Ali Baba has made similar inroads and is currently testing a ChatGPT alternative internally before releasing it to the public.

On top of this, it was revealed this week that Tencent Holdings, which owns WeChat, has created a team to develop a ChatGPT competitor, currently called “Hunyuan AI”.

The South China Morning Post reported that the language model achieved a record-high score on the Chinese Language Understanding Evaluation (CLUE) test.

AI and Censorship: A Headache for Authoritarians

The Chinese companies currently pumping money into AI projects are forced to contend with something that western companies like OpenAI don’t need to worry about: ensuring their chatbots aren’t violating the draconian censorship laws enforced by the CCP by simply thinking freely.

China has already made it extremely difficult to access the non-compliant ChatGPT for this reason. If you want to access the service from inside the country, you’ll need a VPN or proxy server, but reports suggest that Beijing is also clamping down on these avenues to access too.

It may be easy to ensure censored or banned content doesn’t appear on Chinese search engines, but a Chatbot designed to produce original (or quasi-original) answers is far more unpredictable and difficult to control than a web-crawling device.

“Even if Baidu launches Ernie Bot as promised, chances are high it will quickly be suspended,” Xu Liang, the lead developer at Hangzhou-based YuanYu Intelligence, told the Washington Post. “There will simply be too much moderation to do.”

Liang’s own Chatbot, ChatYuan, was suspended shortly after his company released it to the public.

The Chinese government itself has made a number of statements about the role they see AI playing in Chinese society in the near future.

Conceptually, however, it’s difficult to imagine how a chatbot developed by a private company could generate fresh, conversational content that didn’t violate China’s censorship policies without intrusive government oversight of the datasets being used to train the bot, or hardline content moderation processes that defeat the point of the technology.

Chip Supply Poses Challenge for Chatbots

Despite challenges when it comes to contending with censorship laws, it’s clear that the desire to compete with ChatGPT is strong – but whether the country’s biggest companies will have the hardware components to do so is questionable at present.

“If China wants to create its own ChatGPT, we need tens of thousands of A100 chips to provide the necessary computing power,” Tsinghua University professor Zheng Weimin explained at the Global AI conference in Shanghai last weekend.

A100 chips are high-performance graphic processors manufactured by Nvidia – but the company is now restricted by the US government from selling the product in China.

What’s more, the popularity of ChatGPT has caused the price of such chips to surge by 50%, making them even harder to come by.

ChatGPT: Not the Only One Chatting

It’s important to remember that it’s not just China making ChatGPT alternatives. There are a number of free alternatives already on the market, and with ChatGPT often at capacity, it’s good to have a plan b in mind when this occurs.

ChatSonic is a great example of a ChatGPT alternative that’s actually worth using. Not only can it provide you with answers to a variety of multi-faceted queries, but it can also generate AI images.

YouChat is also worth a look at if you like the idea of being shown an AI-generated answer and web pages relevant to your query, and you don’t even need an account to try it out.

With much stricter regulations to worry about than their US counterparts, Chinese businesses developing AI tools really have their work cut out. The launch of Baidu’s Ernie Bot, which is just weeks away, will be the first real indication of precisely how close the country is to developing a ChatGPT alternative to be reckoned with.

Twitter has abruptly made another round of layoffs, with Elon Musk forcing around 200 employees out of the company over the weekend.

The social media platform, which was acquired by the South African billionaire back in late October of 2022, has already seen its payroll shrink dramatically during his tenure in charge.

Interestingly, Musk now seems to be getting rid of people who were more than happy to work the “hardcore” hours he demands, while other reports have noted that key engineers who keep the site ticking along have also been cast aside.

Musk Lays off 10% of Twitter Workforce

This weekend, Elon Musk laid off “at least 50” employees, The Information reports. However, the figure now emerging seems to be closer to 200, which amounts to around one-tenth of Twitter’s remaining, 2000-person workforce.

Rather than receiving an official letter, many of the now-former employees found out that they were about to lose their jobs after attempting to log into their workplace accounts, only to find out that their access was blocked.

For instance, Martin De Kuijper, founder of Twitter-owned newsletter service Revue, only discovered he was among the unlucky few after finding it impossible to access his Twitter email address.

Shifting to “Hardcore Mode” Is Clearly Not Enough

Zoe Schiffer, managing editor of tech publication Platformer, remarked on Twitter that the cohort deemed surplus to requirements includes a “ton of surprises”.

In another Tweet, Schiffer noted that Esther Crawford, chief of Twitter Payments, has been told she’s no longer required at the company. Crawford is perhaps best known for overseeing the company’s Twitter Blue subscription service.

Crawford attracted media attention shortly after Musk’s takeover of the platform and subsequent introduction of “hardcore mode” for those wanting to stay, quote tweeting an image of herself asleep on the floor of Twitter’s offices accompanied by the hashtag #SleepWhereYouWork.

She added in a thread that “doing hard things requires sacrifice (time, energy, etc). I have teammates around the world who are putting in the effort to bring something new to life so it’s important to me to show up for them & keep the team unblocked.”

Musk’s Twitter: What’s Next?

It was pretty clear that when Musk took over Twitter, significant layoffs would take place. Few, however, thought he’d axe almost three-quarters of the social media platforms’ staff in his first six months at the helm of the social media network.

This latest batch of layoffs is much smaller than the thousands of Twitter staff that were given their marching orders at once towards the tail-end of last year, but is arguably more significant. In addition, Musk’s demands on his staff have seen perks such as free lunches and remote working scrapped (a move that the likes of Disney and Amazon have since adopted), with those that refuse to fall in line cut from the company.

Now, even surviving employees with high degrees of loyalty to Musk must now be wondering precisely how secure their own positions are. With a CEO as volatile and enigmatic as the one in post, however, it’s literally anyone’s guess.

Tech layoffs were big news in 2025, and that continues to remain the case as 2026 officially dawns.

There weren’t many major tech companies that escaped redundancies last year — X, Tesla, Shopify, Microsoft, and Netflix all cut staff, some of them more than once.

We’re keeping track of all the latest notable layoffs in tech in 2026, so read on for a timeline of those companies that have been cutting staff this year, along with a look back at those that have shed staff ever since 2022.

On this page:

• Tech Companies That Have Made Layoffs
• Why Are We Seeing So Many Tech Layoffs?
• How Can My Business Avoid Redundancies?

Tech Company Layoffs 2026: Latest News and Updates

June 22

Lucid Motors

In a bid to “simplify the company,” new CEO Silvio Napoli cuts 18% of its workforce — around 1,500 employees. The electric vehicle market has noticeably cooled in the US, with several major automakers shelving their own electric models in recent months.

June 17

Rackspace

The cloud computing company lets go of 750 staff, comprising 15% of its global workforce. The move comes amid a wider shift towards enterprise AI infrastructure and engineering.

June 16

Robinhood

The brokerage firm cuts 10% of its full-time workforce, approximately 290 employees, as part of an effort to flatten its corporate structure and operate in a more lean, efficient fashion. Unusually, the cuts are not caused by financial insecurities, with the company recently posting record-breaking trading volumes.

June 10

Ubisoft

The games company announces that it will close a further two studios as its turbulent 2026 continues. As many as 380 employees are possibly affected, with many employees elsewhere going on strike as a result of the closures.

June 9

Microsoft

More cuts for Microsoft, with the tech giant laying off 300 employees at its Azure cloud unit in China. Reportedly, the cuts are a consequence of tightening regulations in Washington and Beijing.

June 8

Hailo

Israeli chipmaker and former unicorn, Hailo, announces that it will reduce its headcount by 50%, with 110 employees set to be laid off. The move forms part of a streamlining operation, with the company exploring emerging physical AI markets, such as robotics and drones.

June 2

GitLab

The tech company laid off approximately 14% of its workforce, around 350 employees, as part of a strategic restructure with AI as its primary focus. As part of this, the company completely dissolved its geographical presence in 22 of the 60 countries in which it previously stationed small teams.

May 28

Amdocs

The software company is gearing up to lay off between 7–10% of its global workforce, up to 2,900 employees. The move forms part of a wider reorganization kicked off by new CEO Shimie Hortig.

May 27

Groupon

The online marketplace plans to lay off nearly 25% of its total workforce, around 400 roles, as part of a process to reshape the company around AI. Groupon expects to record between $7 million and $13 million in pretax charges, as a result.

May 25

Wix

The website builder platform plans 1,000 job cuts in its largest ever layoff round. The news follows a weak earnings report and a near-50% collapse in stock price since the beginning of 2026. The figure accounts for about 20% of its total workforce.

May 20

Intuit

Financial tech firm Intuit has announced it is cutting around 3,000 roles — about 17% of its global workforce. This news comes on the same day as its third-quarter revenue report showing an increase of 10% to reach $8.6 billion.

May 19

Meta

Facebook parent company Meta is pivoting once again, and 10% of its workforce are casualties. An additional 7,000 employees are being relocated to AI-specific initiatives as well, so in total, about 20% of the company’s worker base is being impacted.

May 11

GM

General Motors follows up last year’s layoff of 200 workers with even more of the same: This time, it’s taking aim at more than 10% of its IT department — about 600 salaried employees. The explicit goal is to replace workers without AI experience with those who do have this skill set.

May 7

Cloudflare

Communications and cybersecurity company Cloudflare will be laying off 1,100 workers. The move is not due to costs or worker performance, the company leaders said in the email announcement, but are an attempt to define “how a world-class, high-growth company operates and creates value in the agentic AI era.”

May 5

PayPal

The payments titan plans to cut 20% of its headcount over the next two to three years, as confirmed by new CEO Enrique Lores. The move forms part of an initiative to deliver at least $1.5 billion in gross run-rate savings in the same period.

May 4

Shopify

The ecommerce giant let go of 30 people in its operations and customer support teams, with an insider citing “technological advancements” as the reason.

April 23

Meta

The tech giant is laying off a massive 8,000 people, which equates to about 10% of its total workforce. The move comes amid a shift towards greater efficiency and AI, with the layoffs set to commence in mid-May.

April 20

Amazon

The ecommerce giant confirms its intention to let go of more than 600 employees in the South Florida region. The company is closing one of its warehouses for a two-year renovation, which is the impetus for the layoffs.

April 15

Taboola

The online advertising company confirms that it will lay off 100 employees around the world, accounting for about 5% of its total workforce. Despite these layoffs, it continues to hire for a number of roles in parallel, as part of a wider restructuring movement.

Snap

Snap plans to lay off 1,000 roles — 16% of its total headcount — as it gears up to streamline its business model with the deployment of AI. The move also includes the closure of more than 300 open roles.

April 14

Eventbrite

Ticketing platform Eventbrite announces widespread layoffs just one week after being acquired by Italian company Bending Spoons. The new head of Eventbrite, Andrea Parodi, revealed that the company was hoping to realize its “full potential” with a smaller team.

April 9

Cars.com

The online car retailer is planning to reduce its headcount by 11% as it increases investment in AI. The company recently rolled out a suite of new AI products, such as an AI-powered mobile assistant that provides analytics and bespoke recommendations.

Qualcomm

Global semiconductor firm plans to lay off 104 employees in its San Diego, CA office. Reportedly, the majority of the layoffs are based in IT, engineering, and cybersecurity, with a smaller portion based in management, marketing, and customer services.

April 8

HCLTech

The US subsidiary of HCLTech plans to let go of 120 employees between May and December 2026, as part of restructure related to a “client engagement.” Affected employees will operate out of its office at San Marco Court in Orlando, FL.

April 7

GoPro

The video camera company lays off nearly one-quarter of its staff — 145 people — in a cost-cutting measure. The company is struggling to return to profitability.

TCS

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services exporter, lets go of 300 people — 16% of its “top executives — as it moves away from its “lifetime employer” model.

April 6

Bolt

The checkout company cuts one-third of its staff amid reported “financial pressures.” According to a Slack message from the company’s co-founder and CEO, Ryan Breslow: “Today, we made the incredibly difficult decision to say goodbye to about one-third of our team.”

April 2

Meta

Ahead of wider layoffs expected in the coming months that could total 8,000, the tech giant let go of 200 Silicon Valley workers as it continues to ramp up its AI spending.

April 1

Oracle

Employees of the tech giant reported on LinkedIn that “senior engineers, architects, operations leaders, program managers, and technical specialists” had been let go. 10,000 people are believed to have lost their job so far, with employees noting a drop in the number of staff active on Oracle’s Slack platform.

March 11

Atlassian

The software giant announced yet another round of job cuts: Just about 10% of its global workforce, or around 1,600 positions. More than 900 of those positions were within the software research and development department, a spokesperson explained.

February 26

Block

Jack Dorsey announced that Block, the payments company behind platforms like Square and Cash App, will be cutting more than 4,000 employees — which is close to half of the more than 10,000 workers that compose its global workforce.

Block CFO Amrita Ahuja says that they’ll be moving forward by, in part, “using AI to automate more work,” making these cuts an explict example of job losses due to AI tech.

January 29

Amazon

Making yet another repeat appearance on this list, Amazon has revealed it will be cutting another 16,000 corporate positions in 2026. In this case, it was an accidentally misfired internal email that revealed the upcoming cuts.

Tech Company Layoffs in 2025

October 4

IBM

Multinational tech company IBM has announced layoffs impacting a “low single-digit percentage” of its workforce globally, to go into effect during the current fourth quarter. Specific numbers weren’t given, but since the company had 270,000 workers as of the end of 2024, the new cuts are likely for 2,700 or more workers.

September 16

Google

200 contract workers have been laid off from GlobalLogic, an outsourcing firm that worked on Google AI projects. This included training and reviewing responses from Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot.

September 3

Oracle

The cloud computing company is set to lay off 101 employees in Seattle, which it disclosed in a state regulatory filing. This comes less than a month after it announced it would be laying off 161 employees, again in its Seattle offices.

May 28

IBM

The US-based company has reportedly laid off around 8,000 employees, with the majority of workers coming from its Human Resources (HR) department. This comes as the result of the company wanting to integrate AI into its operations, particularly in the back-office.

May 27

eBay

After years of downsizing its Israeli operation, the company now plans to shut it down entirely by the first quarter of 2026. As a result, all employees will be laid off, affecting more than 200 people.

May 14

Amazon

Amazon is laying off employees in its devices and services division, roughly 100 workers. Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, has been committed to trimming costs across the company, and has laid off 27,000 workers since 2022.

May 13

Microsoft

The tech giant is laying off 3% of its global workforce, which totals around 6,000 roles. Reportedly, programmers were the worst affected, accounting for more than 40% of the total layoffs.

May 8

Match

Match Group, which owns dating apps including Tinder, Hinge, Match.com, OkCupid, and more, lays off 13% of its workforce. The move comes as part of a restructure to reduce costs and streamline its organizational structure.

May 7

CrowdStrike

The leading cybersecurity company announced its plans to cut 5% of its global workforce, accounting to around 500 jobs. CEO George Kurtz said the plans will help the company move “faster, operate more efficiently, and continue our cybersecurity leadership.”

April 16

Turo

Car rental startup signals intention to cut 150 jobs – shortly after pulling out of its imminent IPO. A company spokesperson cited “ongoing economic uncertainty,” as well as the need to “strengthen our position for long-term growth.”

April 15

GupShup

The San Francisco-based AI startup is letting go of 200 employees as part of a restructure. The announcement follows a round of layoffs in December 2024, in which 300 employees were affected.

April 14

GM

General Motors confirms that it will lay off 200 employees at its factories in Detroit and Hamtramck. The company confirmed that the decision wasn’t motivated by tariffs, but the need to “align with market dynamics,” instead.

April 11

Google

Off the back of a round of layoffs in February, the search engine and tech giant is laying off “hundreds” of staff from its platforms and devices unit, according to The Information.

April 9

Microsoft

Reportedly, the tech giant is mulling over another round of job cuts that could occur in May. According to sources familiar with the matter, cuts to middle managers, and increasing the coders:non-coders ratio are being considered.

April 7

Wicresoft

The Microsoft joint venture is set to shutter its China operations, which will lead to about 2,000 employees losing their jobs. The decision follows Microsoft’s decision to cease outsourcing after-sales support in China to Wicresoft.

April 3

Five9

The software provider is expanding its focus on AI, which has opened the door to a round of layoffs. 4% of its total headcount are set to be laid off, comprising approximately 123 individuals.

Canva

A favorite of designers everywhere, Canva is laying off 10 of its 12 technical writers – shortly after encouraging employees to use AI as part of their everyday workflows.

April 2

Automattic

The company behind WordPress, Tumblr, WooCommerce, and more, is reducing its headcount by 16%. It’s thought that over 270 staff may be affected by the news, which is the result of necessary “restructuring.”

March 25

Block

Jack Dorsey’s fintech company is shedding 8% of its staff, with 931 employees recently laid off. Dorsey told staff that the company will be “making some org changes, including eliminating roles and beginning the consultation process in countries where required.”

March 19

Sequoia

The VC firm is closing its Washington, DC office and letting go of the policy team that is based there. The layoffs impact the policy fellows that are based at the firm, in addition to three full-time employees.

March 18

Siemens

The technology giant plans to let go of approximately 5,600 jobs around the world. According to the company, this forms part of a plan to “further increase its global competitiveness.”

March 13

HelloFresh

The meal-kit delivery company is closing one of its Texas locations and consolidating to another site. As part of this, it will also cut 273 roles at the first site. A company email cited “optimizing our operational footprint” as the main reason for the layoffs.

March 7

NASA

In accordance with DOGE’s wishes, NASA announces that it will shut down several of its offices, including its Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy and the DEI branch of its Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.

Wayfair

Home goods retailer Wayfair announces significant layoffs, with 340 individuals to be affected. According to the company, the decision forms part of an effort to simplify operations and realign the Technology team.

March 6

HPE

Hewlett Packard Enterprise announces plans to cut 2,500 employees, around 5% of its total staff. This is in response to a massive 19% decline in shares in Q1 2025.

TikTok

Social media platform announces that it will make layoffs in April. Reportedly, around 300 jobs at its Dublin headquarters are at risk, representing about 10% of its workforce in Ireland. The platform has not responded to requests for comment.

March 3

Ola Electric

Electric vehicle maker signals intention to lay off more than 1,000 employees and contract workers, as it hopes to turn its fortunes around. Reportedly, losses will impact multiple departments. It is the second round of job losses in less than five months, with Ola laying off 500 employees back in November 2024.

February 27

Google

The tech behemoth announces layoffs in HR and cloud operations roles, as part of a wider internal reorganization. US-based People Operations employees have been offered a voluntary exit program.

February 25

Expedia

Expedia Group confirms that it has made layoffs in a cost-cutting effort. It did not disclose how many employees were affected, but this latest round of layoffs comes a year after approximately 1,500 people were let go from the company.

February 21

Zendesk

Software as a Service (SaaS) company Zendesk confirms plans to let go of 51 jobs from its headquarters in San Francisco. This follows another round of job losses in 2023, in which approximately 8% of its workforce was affected.

February 13

Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos’s rocket company reveals plans to lay off 10% of its workforce, corresponding to more than 1,000 employees. This comes just a month after the company debuted its first orbital rocket, known as New Glenn.

February 5

Sonos

The audio company continues to endure a tumultuous period, with a further 200 employees let go. This follows a round of redundancies in August 2024, during which 100 individuals were affected.

Workday

Enterprise HR platform Workday lays off 1,750 staff, comprising 8.5% of its total headcount. CEO Carl Eschenbach tells employees in a memo that the company needs to rethink its approach in the current market, with AI thought to represent a market opportunity.

February 4

Okta

US-based identity and access management platform Okta lays off 180 employees. The news comes just one year after it laid off no fewer than 400 employees, with a further reduction of 300 coming just one month later.

Salesforce

The CRM giant confirms that it is letting go of over 1,000 roles. At the same time, the company is actively pursuing plans to recruit and train workers to sell new AI products. Affected individuals also have the opportunity to apply to other roles within the company.

January 27

Ubisoft

Ubisoft confirms the closure of its Leamington development studio, as well as a series of “targeted restructurings” at offices across Europe. Reportedly, it will impact 185 employees in total. The news follows company studio closures in San Francisco and Osaka in December 2024, as it continues to endure a challenging period.

January 21

Stripe

Payments giant Stripe plans to cut 300 employees from its global workforce, largely from product, engineering, and operations roles, according to a leaked memo. At the same time, the company plans to grow its overall headcount by about 17% over the course of the year, hoping to reach 10,000.

January 14

Microsoft

No, you’re not seeing double – just a week after announcing that under performers will be laid off from the company, Microsoft revealed that a second wave of layoffs will affect those working in its gaming, security, and sales divisions.

Meta

Things aren’t getting better at Meta, at least not for staff. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company would be making layoffs, with 5% of the company expected to be cut. In what Zuckerberg dubbed an ‘intense year’, low performers will be targeted first.

January 10

Wayfair

Online home goods company Wayfair cutting up to 730 jobs – about 3% of its global workforce – as it plans to exit the German market. Approximately half of affected employees will be presented with the option to stay and relocate to London, Boston, or another location.

January 08

Microsoft

Microsoft started the year with layoffs targeting staff who are under performing, as the company stated it was focusing on ‘high performing talent’. Numbers are unknown, but it is estimated that the total of staff affected represents less than 1% of the company. A Microsoft spokesperson said: “We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action.”

January 06

SolarEdge Technologies

The renewable energy company announces that it will lay off 400 workers globally, its fourth round of cuts since January 2024. It expects to save between $9-11 million from the layoffs, as it continues to struggle in the face of an industry-wide downturn in fortunes.

Tech Company Layoffs in 2024

December 23

Lilium

Lilium ceases operations and lays off its approximately 1000 members of staff after failing to obtain financing. The electric aircraft startup raised more than $1 billion before going public, but is closing down after operating for nearly 11 years.

December 12

Calendly

Online business platform Calendly lays off 70 employees, roughly 13% of its workforce, as part of a reorganization. Affected teams include engineering, customer experience, marketing, and billing.

Yahoo

Yahoo lays off 25% of its cybersecurity team over the course of 2024. In addition to this, an email from new CTO Valeri Liborski reveals in early December that changes across the wider technology unit are to be expected.

December 11

OfferUp

OfferUp cuts 22% of its workforce in an effort to remain profitable as it expands into new product lines. “While we still have plenty of cash on our balance sheet, it’s important in these times to remain profitable,” says CEO Todd Dunlap.

December 10

Bluevine

The fintech company lays off 100 employees in its second round of layoffs in six months. 30 of the employees are based in Israel, and the total reduction accounts for about 18% of the company’s total workforce.

December 6

EasyKnock

The controversial proptech company, which offered sale-leaseback deals to homeowners, abruptly ceases its operations. This comes off the back of several lawsuits and an FTC consumer alert against the company.

Carousell

Singapore-based ecommerce platform Carousell announces that it will cut 76 roles, comprising about 7% of its total workforce. The news forms part of a company-wide restructure.

December 5

Stash

Fintech unicorn Stash reportedly lays off around 40% of its 220 employees. The news comes shortly after the return of its original cofounders, Brandon Krieg and Ed Robinson, and the departure of CEO Liza Landsman.

December 2nd

Lightspeed Commerce

Canadian commerce platform, Lightspeed Commerce, confirms that it will lay off about 200 members of staff. This follows another round of layoffs in April, in which about 280 employees were let go.

November 25th

LinkedIn

The social networking site lays off 202 employees, representing 1% of its global workforce. Largely, affected employees worked in engineering or customer support roles.

November 20th

Headspace

Mental health startup Headspace cuts 13% of its workforce in an effort to “reset” the company. As part of the move, the company’s network of therapists transition to part-time and contract roles.

November 12th

23andMe

Genetic testing company cuts 40% of its workforce, comprising over 200 employees. The company is also set to discontinue its therapeutics business and clinical trials, as part of a widespread restructuring that it hopes will save $35 million every year.

November 11th

Enphase Energy

Solar technology and electric vehicle charger company, Enphase Energy, lays off 500 employees, accounting for 17% of its global workforce. The news comes amid a significant downturn in the fortunes of solar and battery companies, with Enphase Energy’s valuation dropping by 80% from its 2022 high.

November 7th

FreshWorks

Software as a Service (SaaS) business Freshworks reduces its headcount by 13%, affecting 660 employees around the world. The announcement forms part of a restructure, due to be completed by the end of the year.

November 6th

JustEat

Food delivery company JustEat announces that it will make 300 staff redundant across the global business, equating to 2% of its total workforce. The departures affect people in customer service, products, technology, human resources, sales, marketing, and logistics.

November 5th

Mozilla Foundation

The nonprofit arm of web browser maker, Mozilla, lets go of 30% of its employees, in the face of a “relentless onslaught of change.” The company plans to reorganize teams to “increase agility and impact as we accelerate our work to ensure a more open and equitable technical future for us all.”

November 1st

Bowery Farming

Agriculture-tech, or AgTech, company Bowery Farming is shutting down, it has been announced.  Once valued at $2.3 billion, with backing from General Catalyst, GV, Temasek, and Fidelity Management, the startup is closing down, with all employees laid off immediately.

October 30th

Tidal

Jack Dorsey’s music streaming challenger, Tidal, is reducing its headcount in a bid to operate “like a startup again.” Dorsey hasn’t disclosed how many will be affected, but with the product management and product marketing functions set to be axed entirely, speculation is mounting that it could be in the hundreds.

October 30th

Dropbox

In response to a “transitional period,” Dropbox is laying off 20% of its workforce, CEO Drew Houston has announced. 528 employees are affected, as the company aims to create a “flatter, more efficient” team.

October 29th

Consensys

Software giant Consensys, which makes decentralized apps for the Ethereum blockchain, is letting go of 20% of its global workforce, totaling 163 out of 828 employees. Going forward, the company will focus on supporting the likes of MetaMask and Linea.

October 25th

Kyte

Rental car disruptor Kyte is pulling out of several US markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Los Angeles, as well as reducing its headcount by roughly 50%. The company will now exclusively operate in New York City, San Francisco, and Jersey City.

October 16th

Meta

Meta is laying off employees across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, as part of a restructure of specific teams. This round of layoffs follows a series of cuts earlier this year, in which employees of the Reality Lab division were impacted.

October 11th

Boeing

Boeing plans to cut 10% of its workforce – approximately 17,000 employees – as its torrid spell shows no signs of letting up. With a weeks-long machinist strike still ongoing, the company has further delayed the rollout of its long-awaited 777X wide-body plane – putting it six years behind schedule.

October 11th

Stellantis

Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram, lets go of 1,100 employees in Michigan. The company has also announced that “indefinite layoffs” will be implemented as it continues to struggle with declining revenue.

October 11th

TikTok

ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, lets hundreds of TikTok employees go, with the social media platform increasingly investing in AI. The cuts mainly affect people based in Malaysia, with no US-based employees impacted.

October 8th

Kaspersky

Russian company Kaspersky, one of the biggest players in the cybersecurity space, is shutting its UK office and laying off staff – just three months after it started winding down operations in the US following a federal government ban.

October 2nd

Flexport

Supply chain solutions provider Flexport reduces its headcount by 2% as part of a company restructure. The news follows a big round of layoffs in January this year, in which 20% of staff were impacted – despite securing the backing of Shopify to the tune of $260 million in the same month.

September 16th

Cisco

Tech giant Cisco lets around 5,600 employees go in its second big round of layoffs in 2024. While the company announced its decision in August, employees were not made aware of exactly who was affected until September 16th. Reportedly, the company did not disclose a reason for this month-long delay.

September 12th

Microsoft

Microsoft’s gaming business lays off 650 staff, according to a memo obtained by IGN. The news comes just eight months after the company laid off 1900 employees, having acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in October last year. The decision represents “part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business,” says the memo.

September 6th

Goop

Health startup Goop plans to lay off 18% of its workforce and restructure around fashion, beauty, and food. Reportedly, its food vertical, Goop Kitchen, raises $15 million from Uber Co-founder and CloudKitchens CEO Travis Kalanick.

August 29th

Character.AI

The Information reports that Chatbot startup Character.AI has laid off 5% of its staff, with people in marketing and recruitment mostly affected. “We are refocusing the company to ensure all roles align with our direction to build personalized AI products,” says a company representative.

August 28th

Apple

As part of a divisional “shift of priorities,” Apple cuts about 100 jobs across its digital services group. Reportedly, most of the employees who were laid off worked within the team that looks after the Apple Books app and Apple Bookstore.

August 19th

GoPro

GoPro announces plan to reduce its workforce by 15%, in an effort to save up to $7 million. Comprising around 139 jobs, the layoffs are set to start in Q3 and conclude by the end of the year.

August 15th

Formlabs

As reported by TechCrunch, Formlabs has confirmed that it has laid off around 40 employees over the past two years. In a statement issued to TechCrunch, the company claimed ‘we occasionally must make the difficult decision to part ways with a small number of colleagues.’

August 14th

Sonos

Audio equipment manufacturer Sonos has let go of 100 employees, the company confirmed on Wednesday. The news comes amid technical problems with the Sonos mobile app – projected to cost around $30 million to fix.

August 1st

Intel

Intel announces job cuts of 15,000 employees, representing 15% of the company workforce. The move is blamed on dwindling profits and increased operating costs. Read more about the Intel layoffs.

June 9th

Dyson

UK-based company Dyson, best know for its range of vacuum cleaners, announces that it is cutting 1,000 roles, around a third of the company. In a statement, the company claimed that the move would allow it to be “prepared for the future” in an “increasingly fierce and competitive global markets.”

March 20th

Bell

Job losses: Around 400

Telecom giant Bell informs hundreds of staff that they are to be made redundant in group video calls. The delivery method has been heavily criticised by Unifor National President Lana Payne, who described the actions as ‘cruel’

March 11th

Inscribe.ai

Job losses: Around 25

AI detection tool Inscribe.ai announces that it is cutting 40% of its workforce, equating to around 25 employees. The losses were blamed on changes in the financial services industry, and the move by the company to a new product, coming later in the year.

February 29th

EA

Job losses: 670

Another blow to the struggling gaming industry, as EA announces that it is cutting 5% of its staff, almost a year after it canned 6%, in March 2023.

In a statement, CEO Andrew Wilson told staff that the aim was to find new roles and projects for those affected where possible, and that the process was likely to be completed by early next quarter.

February 27th

Bumble

Job losses: 350

As part of its FY ’23 results, Bumble has released a statement saying it is taking “significant and decisive action” in the form of a global transformation plan that will shrink its workforce by a huge 37%.

That amounts to around 350 Bumble job losses in practice, which could cost the company as much as $25 million in severance pay and related compensation.

Sony

Job losses: 900

Sony announces 900, around 8% reduction in workforce for its Playstation Studios. In a statement, the company said that the cuts would effect employees in the Americas, EMEA, Japan and APAC regions.

Among those affected are studio Naughty Dog, maker of the popular Last of Us and Uncharted Playstation games, and London Studio, which is to be closed completely.

February 26th

Expedia

Job losses: 1,500

Expedia reveals that it is cutting 1,500 roles at the company, amounting to around 9% of the company.

The losses follow on from two rounds of redundancies in 2023, for the company.

February 15th

Cisco

Job losses: 4,250

Cisco announces thousands of lay offs as the company struggles with wavering demand for its products.

CEO Charles Robbins stated that Cisco had been the victim of weak demand from its telecom and cable customers, and that it was planning to switch to high growth areas to recover costs.

February 13th

Mozilla

Job losses: 60

Mozilla, the company behind popular web browser Firefox, announces that it is cutting 60 roles at the company, and scaling back its product focus.

February 6th

Amazon

Job losses: hundreds

Amazon announces plans to cut jobs in its medical division, with employees at Amazon Pharmacy and One Medical affected.

In a statement, Amazon said it was “realigning some resources to help accelerate our efforts to deliver the best experience for our patients, customers, and members”

February 5th

Snap

Job losses: 500

Snap joins the trend of tech companies shedding staff at the start of the year, announcing that it’s cutting 10% of its 5,000-strong workforce.

In a statement to the BBC, the company claimed that the move would reduce hierarchy, and promote in-person collaboration.

January 31st

PayPal

Job losses: 2,500

PayPal announced large job cuts across the company, with around 9% of its staff to be laid off. The cuts come almost a year to the day that it let go of 2,000 workers.

In a statement on its website, PayPal informed staff that those affected will be told by the end of the week.

January 24th

Microsoft

Job losses: 1,900

Microsoft announces plans to lay off around 1,900 staff, across its gaming division, after it completed on its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

In a memo to staff, Microsoft Gaming CEO, Phil Spencer, said “We have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1,900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team. The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible.”

January 23rd

eBay

Job losses: 1,000

eBay announces that it is taking cost cutting measures, with 1,000 full time staff, around 9% of the company, being let go.

In a memo posted on its corporate blog, President and CEO Jamie Iannone asked that affected staff work from home on the 24th of January, so that lay off calls could be conducted online, ensuring “space and privacy for these conversations.”

January 10th

Amazon (Twitch/Prime)

Job losses: Hundreds of employees

Amazon announced a slew of lay offs across two of its divisions, with 500 employees at Twitch, amounting to 35% of its staff, and hundreds more at Amazon Prime, all losing their jobs.

Senior Vice President of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, Mike Hopkins, blamed the redundancies on reducing and discontinuing investments in some areas of the business.

Tech Companies That Made Layoffs in 2023

December 4th

Spotify

Job losses: Around 1,500 employees

Spotify announces it is cutting 17% of employees, around 1,500 people. CEO Daniel Ek pinned the blame on slow economic growth, in a memo to staff, and stated “More people need to be focused on delivering for our key stakeholders – creators and consumers. In two words, we have to become relentlessly resourceful.”

November 13th

Amazon

Job losses: Around 180 employees

Amazon announces that it is making cuts to its Amazon Prime gaming division. The lay offs, which affect around 180 employees, take place six months after a restructuring of the department, which saw 100 job losses.

November 1st

Splunk

Job losses: Around 500 employees

Cybersecurity firm Splunk is set to let lose 7% of its workforce, around 500 employees. The company is currently being acquired by Cisco, but CEO Gary Steele stated in a letter to staff that these redundancies were not a requirement of the deal.

October 18th

Nokia

Job losses: Around 14,000 employees

Telecommunications company Nokia is cutting around 16% of its workforce, after sales have slumped in the US. The company states it is taking the cost cutting measures to “address the challenging market environment.”

October 16th

LinkedIn

Job losses: 668 employees

In its second wave of job losses this year, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has seen nearly 700 roles cut from the company, representing 3% of the company. Microsoft referenced a slowdown in hiring and ad spend as contributors to job losses.

October 16th

Stack Overflow

Job losses: around 150 employees

Coder resource Stack Overflow announced that it was laying off 28% of its workforce, with CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar stating that it is committed to product innovation, and on the path to profitability. While the company is creating its own AI tool, it faces strong competition from existing platforms such as ChatGPT, which have been scraping the site for content. Such is the threat, that in April the company announced it was exploring charging AI scraping tools for using its content.

October 16th

Bandcamp

Job losses: around 60 employees

Music streaming service Bandcamp, which was purchased from Epic Games by Songtradr in 2023, has seen job losses of half its workforce – around 60 employees. While some workers were offered new contracts with the new parent company, others were told that they need to part ways, and would receive severance.

October 13th

Qualcomm

Job losses: 1,258 employees

Qualcomm cites cost cutting as the reason it’s letting go of 2.5% of its workforce. Multiple roles, including engineers and those within HR and legal, will be at risk of the scale-back starting on December 13th.

September 13th

Google

Job losses: hundreds of staff

Google announces that due to slowing its hiring process, it will be making significant cuts to its recruiting teams. Job losses are expected to be in the hundreds. The company had already made 12,000 job cuts earlier in the year.

August 31st

Malwarebytes

Job losses: 100 staff

Initially reported by TechCrunch, using an anonymous Malwarebytes employee as a source, the company has apparently laid off 100 positions.  This has been confirmed by CEO Marcin Kleczynski, stating that the cuts were part of a plan to separate the business into two units.

August 24th

T-Mobile

Job losses: around 5,000 staff

T-Mobile announces that it will be cutting 5,000 roles at the firm, around 7% of its total workforce, in the next five weeks. CEO Mike Sievert told staff that the measures were necessary to reduce spend, with those positions affected being ‘mostly duplicative; of other roles.

August 14th

SecureWorks

Job losses: around 300 staff

Cybersecurity firm SecureWorks announced that it was cutting 300 roles, representing around 15% of the company workforce. In an email to the company, SecureWorks CEO Wendy Thomas stated that the move was intended to ‘simplify and scale’ the business.

August 2nd

Salesforce

Job losses: around 50 staff

Salesforce announced an addition to the 10% of its workforce (around 8,000) that it had already planned to lay off by 2024. Around 50 roles in sales and customer service, based in Ireland, have been slashed.

July 26th

CD Projekt Red

Job losses: 100 staff

Gaming developer CD Projekt Red, makers of the Witcher series and Cyberpunk, announces it is cutting 100 roles, approximately 9% of its total workforce. In a statement on the company’s blog, CEO Adam Kiciński stated that the layoffs were due to overstaffing.

July 24th

Virgin Media O2

Job losses: 20,000 staff

UK telecoms firm Virgin Media announces cuts of 20,000 roles, amounting to 12% of the company’s total workforce. The positions will be closed by the end of the year. The company stated that it was “simplifying” its operating model. It follows huge job losses made earlier in the year by its competitor, British Telecom.

July 10th

Microsoft

Job losses: around 276 staff

Microsoft has announces that it is laying off 276 staff, this is in addition to the 10,000 job cuts it announced earlier in the year. The job losses affect 210 workers based in Washington, as well as 66 remote workers.

Evernote

Job losses: majority of US staff

Evernote laid off 129 employees back in February, and has now announced that it is to cut the vast majority of its staff base in the US, and move operations to Europe. The company was purchased by Bending Spoons, an Italian-based company, last November.

July 4th

ClickUp

Job losses: around 90 staff

Project management software solution ClickUp has laid off around 10% of its 900-strong workforce, reportedly in the name of efficiency.

June 21st

Uber

Job losses: around 200 staff

Uber announces job cuts that will affect its recruiting division, reports the Wall Street Journal. The positions amount to around 1%  of the company’s total staff. The company has around 32,000 workers globally.

June 14th

Bell

Job losses: around 1,300 staff

Canadian telecoms and media firm, Bell, announces large cuts to parts of its business, closing six radio stations, and selling three, leading to layoffs of around 1,300. The firm stated that 30% of the roles affected are currently vacant.

Sonos

Job losses: around 130 staff

Audio manufacturer Sonos announces it will be cutting 7% of its workforce, with expectation that the move will cost between $11 to $14 million in severance packages and restructuring. The company also announced it would be scaling back its real estate footprint.

The last mass layoffs at the firm happened in 2020, in response to the pandemic, when it laid off 12% of its staff.

TrueCar

Job losses: around 100 staff

The car buying platform announced that it is laying off around a quarter of its workforce, due to company restructuring. CEO Michael Darrow is confirmed to be stepping down, and will be replaced by Jantoon Reigersman. In a statement, chair of the board, Barbara Carbone, stated that the cuts were “necessary to enable TrueCar to achieve its strategic priorities and create long-term shareholder value.”

Sumo Logic

Job losses: around 80 staff

Cloud software company Sumo Logic revealed that it is making job cuts, affecting 8% of its total workforce. The move follows last month’s news that Sumo Logic had been purchased by private equity firm Francisco Partners for $1.7 billion.

June 13th

23andMe

Job losses: around 75 staff

San Francisco based biotech firm 23andMe announced that it would be closing 75 roles at the company, in filings with the federal government. The job closures are expected to be completed by March 2024. The company previously made cuts in 2020, losing 100 employees.

June 6th

Reddit

Job losses: around 90 staff

Reported in the Wall Street Journal, Reddit is to cut 90 roles within the company, equalling around 5% of the workforce. The news was conveyed in an email to staff, where Chief Executive Steve Huffman stated that after a strong start to the year, restructuring within the company would allow Reddit to continue its momentum. Plans for hiring have also been scaled back.

June 5th

Spotify

Job losses: around 200 staff

Spotify announces that it is to cut 200 members of staff (around 2% of its total workforce) from the company, all within its podcast division. In a statement, Spotify noted that original podcasts would still be created, as well as expanding its partnership program with podcasters globally.

The move follows 600 job cuts at the company back in January.

May 31st

ZipRecruiter

Job losses: around 270 staff

Recruitment platform ZipRecruiter announced it was laying off 270 of its staff, due to economic pressures leading to a poorer than expected demand for new employees. According to the company, half of those affected are in sales and customer support.

CEO, Ian Siegel, also agreed to take a 30% pay cut.

May 18th

BT

Job losses: around 55,000 staff

UK-based telecoms firm BT announced that it was shedding 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade, reducing the number of employees from the current 130,000. Cuts are expected as the firm finishes work on the UK fibre network, and fewer requirements for maintenance. Around 5,000 of the roles are expected to be swallowed up by restructuring.

In addition, CEO Philip Jansen stated that a fifth of the roles are expected to be replaced by AI.

May 16th

Vodafone

Job losses: around 11,000 staff

Vodafone’s newly appointed CEO, Margherita Della Valle, announced that the company would be cutting around 11,000 roles over the next three years, from the company’s one million employees.

In a statement, the CEO stated that the results of the company’s financial year were ‘not good enough’, and that the new priorities were to ‘simplify our organisation’, and reallocate resources to better serve customers.

May 8th

LinkedIn

Job losses: around 716 staff

LinkedIn, Microsoft’s social media platform aimed at business professionals, is to cut 716 roles at the company. In a statement, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky states that the cuts to jobs in sales, operations and support teams were designed to streamline the decision process. However, Roslansky also stated the move would create 250 new roles. It was also announced that it would be removing its service from China.

A new survey finds that businesses and workers remain in a push-pull relationship in regards to worker accommodations like remote work and pay raises.

Pay raises in particular are an interesting conversation: Companies won’t be delivering quite as many raises in 2023, but the average amount will be a little higher. It just won’t be not high enough to fully account for the drop in US wage value due to inflation.

A lot has changed in work flexibility since 2020: Remote work remains more than healthy and many companies have adapted the four-day work week, yet inflation and layoffs are threatening wages as well. Here are the latest stats to know.

Pay Raises in 2023: Fewer, and Not High Enough to Match Inflation

Inflation and an economic recession mean that businesses may be less interested in offering raises… but employees will have more reasons to need them. These numbers come from the 2023 edition of Payscale’s annual Compensation Best Practices Report.

In 2023, most organizations still plan on delivering base pay increases to their workers: 80% say they will. But that stat has dropped since last year, when 92% said they planned pay increases. Both numbers are higher than 2020, when just 64% actually increased base pay.

The overall amount of raises is up, too: In 2023, 56% of organizations plan to give base pay increases over 3%, which is just slightly up from 2022, when 53% of organizations gave over 3 percent. But companies are less interested then they were last year in going any higher than a 5% raise. From the study:

“However, more organizations look to be giving between 4-5% in 2023, whereas in 2022, the percentage of those giving more than 5% was higher.”

And since the annual inflation rate for the United States was 6.4% for the 12-month period ending last month, the average worker is ultimately still on the losing end of the pay raise discussion.

29% of Businesses Find Quiet Quitters “At Risk of Termination”

One of the more recent business buzzwords, “quiet quitting,” is a term used to refer to someone who does their job without working beyond the minimum. The survey found 55 percent of organizations understand the term to refer to “mislabeled work/life balance.”

But 29 percent said that they “risk termination if discovered.”

A worker could interpret these results in a few different ways. It seems that meeting your job expectations may not pass muster if you’re not perceived as enough of a team player. But 71% of responding organizations wouldn’t put their own quiet quitters at a risk of termination.

Another way to look at it: Maybe quiet quitters, by definition, don’t mind a higher risk of termination. The number of employees willing to leave their jobs may very well drop as inflation rises, but we haven’t seen data to indicate this yet.

Remote Work Remains Huge

In 2023, a massive 73% of organizations will have some form of remote work — 31% are hybrid workplaces, another 31% are split by job type, and 11% are either remote-first or fully remote. Still, 27% are “traditional” workplaces, and the hybrid model remains the largest piece of the pie, so physical offices aren’t going away either.

Studies have found the ability to chose between remote and in-office positions is a factor for the majority (60%) of workers, so remote-first operations can set themselves apart, provided they stock up on the tech needed to keep remote work secure online, from VPNs to password managers.

And there’s no question that remote workplaces are sticking around since the start of the Covid pandemic. Workers just need to keep pushing for pay raises to match inflation as well, before the urge to quiet quit starts to rise.

Wall Street will need a lot of time to warm up to artificial intelligence: A handful of the biggest banks have cracked down on use of the AI chatbot ChatGPT.

Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are among the biggest brands to ban any use of Microsoft’s ChatGPT for business purposes.

It’s not just an anti-technology stance, however: The banks simply won’t allow the use of third-party software without a thorough vetting, which makes sense when you consider that their entire industry lives and dies on keeping its clients’ money secure.

What the ChatGPT Crackdown Looks Like

Here’s the full list of banks with a ban on ChatGPT use during business communications:

• Bank of America Corp.
• Citigroup Inc.
• Deutsche Bank AG
• Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
• Wells Fargo & Co.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co.

“We are imposing usage limits on ChatGPT, as we continue to evaluate safe and effective ways of using technologies like these,” aWells Fargo spokesperson told Bloomberg.

This view is mirrored in statements from Bank of America, which cites standard procedures required to appraise software before it can be used, while Deutsche Bank does farther and has entirely disabled access to ChatGPT.

What Does This Mean for AI Chat Bots?

AI-powered and mostly text-based chat bots have been making headlines in recent weeks. When they’re not flubbing a fact during a live presentation and tanking Google’s stock by 9%, they’re convincing journalists that they’ve gained sentience.

ChatGPT, created by the Microsoft-owned OpenAI and already integrated with the company’s search engine Bing, is one of the most popular chatbots at the moment. The future for ChatGPT and all the other AI bots — at least as hyped-up by techno-optimists — could impact every industry under the sun. Not only can chatbots reduce many simple but time-consuming tasks, but they could arguably learn to create their own stock portfolios or analyst presentations.

But that requires a certain level of dependability that chatbots have yet to prove they can deliver. Google and Microsoft are currently both working towards reducing “emotional” outbursts from the artificial intelligences.

If ChatGPT and its AI peers can pass muster with the biggest banks Wall Street has to offer, we’ll know that the services have a bright future across many different use cases and industries. But right now, those bots are non persona non grata.

Alphabet is reportedly insisting that Google employees share a desk at its five largest offices around the world, signaling just how bad the recession has gotten for the company once lorded for its incredible employee perks.

For years, the tech industry has been the gold standard for in-office benefits. From catered meals to full-on massage service, these tech firms were extremely proficient at attracting top talent through employee perks.

Google appears to be rolling back those perks, however, as the tech giant has suggested sharing desks as a way to cut costs and make their office space more efficient.

Google to Employees: Please Share Desks

Announced in an internal document acquired by CNBC, Google employees are being asked to share a desk with another employee, with each coming in on alternating days. The change will take place in the for the offices in Kirkland, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Sunnyvale.

“Most Googlers will now share a desk with one other Googler. Through the matching process, they will agree on a basic desk setup and establish norms with their desk partner and teams to ensure a positive experience in the new shared environment.” – a Google internal document

In the innovative fashion that Google is known for, the new arrangement is internally being referred to as Cloud Office Evolution, or CLOE.

Why Does Google Want Employees to Share Desks?

It’s no secret that the tech industry is in cost-cutting mode, with a wide range of businesses laying off employees like it’s going out of style.

Google is no different, having laid off around 11,000 employees earlier this year. Subsequently, it seems pretty clear that Google is making this move to cut costs. However, again in true tech industry fashion, Google had to spin it to make it sound like a benefit rather than a cut.

“Since returning to the office, we’ve run pilots and conducted surveys with Cloud employees to explore different hybrid work models and help shape the best experience. Our data show Cloud Googlers value guaranteed in-person collaboration when they are in the office, as well as the option to work from home a few days each week. With this feedback, we’ve developed our new rotational model, combining the best of pre-pandemic collaboration with the flexibility and focus we’ve all come to appreciate from remote work, while also allowing us to use our spaces more efficiently.” – a Google spokesperson

The newly minted focus on “efficiency” that seems to have gripped the tech industry has cost a lot of people their jobs and apparently their desks. And to make matters worse, the economic downturn isn’t going to get better for an industry that used to rely on perks to get its employees to stick around.

The days of old-school point-of-sale systems could be on the way out, as Stripe announced that it was expanding its Tap to Pay functionality to Android devices.

Point-of-sale (POS) systems are an integral part of the physical store experience, facilitating payments, tracking inventory, and generally helping employees manage the everyday transactions associated with running a business.

However, with the advancements in contactless payment technology since the start of the pandemic, making and receiving payments on your smartphone is easier than ever, particularly with this news from Stripe.

Stripe Expands Tap to Pay to Android Devices

Stripe announced this week that it would be expanding its Tap to Pay functionality to Android devices in an effort to provide businesses and stores with a simple way to accept payments with nothing more than a smartphone.

“Stripe’s launch of Tap to Pay on Android puts contactless payments hardware into the pockets of millions of businesses around the world. Now any business can set up in-person checkout in minutes.” – John Affaki, Terminal business lead at Stripe

Tap to Pay will be available on Android devices in the US, Canada, the U.K., New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, with plans to expand in the coming month. The service will work with Google Pay, Mastercard, Visa and American Express.

All smartphones will be able to take advantage of this functionality through Stripe as long as your device is equipped with NFC technology, which the majority of modern iterations are.

The new functionality will make Stripe the first payment company to provide the Tap to Pay functionality on Android devices, having launched the service for Apple devices almost exactly one year ago.

Is Contactless Payment the Future?

Contactless payment has seen a dramatic rise in popularity since the start of the pandemic, with 20% of all in-person credit and debit card payments in the US being contactless. Subsequently, businesses need to be prepared for a future in which tapping your card or your phone on a payment terminal is the norm.

“Contactless payments are increasingly becoming the norm, therefore it’s crucial that businesses of all sizes are able to accept this form of payment.” – Dong Min Kim, director of product management for Google Payment

There are plenty of ways to prepare yourself for this eventuality, but getting set up with a POS system that supports contactless payment is clearly the best place to start. For help finding the right option for your business, take a look at our guide to the best POS systems for small business.

The honeymoon with remote work isn’t over just yet, with a new report revealing that nearly 30% of all US jobs are still done from home.

This news may be surprising to some that have noticed big tech firms and other businesses trying to get employees back into the office, despite the telecommuting statistics showing how good remote work has been for businesses and employees alike.

Fortunately, while numbers are down from the height of the pandemic, this new research shows that some businesses are taking this paradigm shift to heart in service of better work-life balance for their employees.

Nearly 30% of US Jobs Are Still Remote

According to a new study from WFH Research, a little less than 30% of all jobs in the US remain remote. Granted, this is down from 61% at the height of the pandemic but is still decidedly higher than 4% of jobs that were remote before the pandemic in 2019. And the impact this shift has had on society is nothing if not substantial.

“It’s affected so many things. It’s affected city structure… It’s affecting retail. It’s completely skewed — mostly in a positive way — the American economy.” – Nicholas Bloom, Stanford University economist and WFH researcher

The study specifically analyzed the effect of work from home policies on city life, as well, measuring the number of empty desks in metropolitan hubs. In Chicago, for instance, 49% of office space remains empty, with Washington DC, Los Angeles, and New York boasting more than half of all office space remaining unused.

Should My Business Keep Its Remote Work Policy?

With the market beginning to stabilize since the chaotic times of the pandemic, many businesses are deciding whether or not to return to the office full time. Fortunately, there’s plenty of data out there that should be able to inform your decision in a meaningful way.

For starters, if you want to attract top talent, statistics show that forcing your employees back into the office is not the way to go. 97% of employees state that they do not want to return to the office full time, and 51% of them say they would quit on the spot if asked to give up their hybrid working model. So, unless you want to deal with a wave of quiet quitting at your business, working from home should stay on the menu.

On top of that, studies have shown that remote work doesn’t have the negative impact on productivity that many managers think it does. In fact, studies found that businesses offering a hybrid work model see a 22% performance boost, with 55% of employees noting that they work more when working from home.

Simply put, there’s no data to back up the return to the office movement, beyond filling empty offices and partaking in weak company culture. But if you really want to drive away your top employees and deteriorate your worker’s mental health to the point of burnout, we’re not going to stop you.

If you want to leave your company that is forcing you back to the office, we don’t blame you. Check out our guide to businesses that offer remote or hybrid work models here to start your search.

Call of Duty creators Activision recently confirmed that the company suffered a major data breach, with both sensitive and product-related employee information stolen from the website.

The news comes as Microsoft defends its $69 billion acquisition of the company at an EU competitions hearing, with the supra-national political body currently scrutinizing the tech giant’s decision to buy the gaming company.

Cybersecurity tools like password managers provide protection against common tactics like credential stuffing, but this case is the latest reminder that educating employees so they can identify suspicious correspondence is equally important to cybersecurity.

Activision Phishing Attack Reveals Staff Data

Activision confirmed this week that towards the end of last year, threat actors successfully breached the company’s systems. The threat actors exfiltrated sensitive employee data and information about yet-to-be-released game content.

The stolen data includes full names, email addresses, and phone numbers, as well as confidential information like salaries and work locations.

The breach officially occurred on December 4, 2022, but at that time, Activision did not announce or confirm that a cyber attack had taken place, continuing the trend of large companies prolonging the time between breach discovery and disclosure.

Call of Duty 2023 Plans Revealed

According to gaming publication Insider Gaming, the leaked documents seem to highlight “the entire year ahead for Call of Duty.”

Seven “Core Maps” and a “Haunting of Saba event for Halloween” are scheduled for season 6 (September-November 2023), while one “small map” will be arriving beforehand as part of Season 4 (May – July 2023).

As you can see from the image below (credit: @vxunderground), the leaked documents contain plans for at least “one ‘Licensed’ operator every season, which means a collaboration or crossover… more Gunfights, Spec Ops missions, Raids, and Tier 1 Events starting from Season Three” and “at least another 240 bundles”.

At the bottom of the screenshot, you can just about see date information about “Jupiter” – thought to be a new installment in the Call of Duty franchise.

“Jupiter GL4” is penciled in for April 7 to April 28, “Jupiter Alpha” for May 26 to June 2, and “Jupiter GL5” for June 9 to June 30.

Humans Are Network Weak Points

As is often the case with data breaches, the threat actors found their way in after an employee fell for a text message phishing scam, rather than by exploiting a technical vulnerability.

This emphasizes, rather emphatically, the importance of ensuring your staff are well-trained in recognizing the telltale signs that an email may be suspicious. Password managers and other cybersecurity tools can only do so much.

You can have an extremely secure network and still provide a cyber criminal with an endpoint to exploit by not adequately training your staff.

Amazon employees unhappy with the company’s return-to-office mandate have started a petition in an attempt to stop the planned change to their working arrangements from being enforced.

Starting May 1, 2023, Amazon employees will have to come into the office at least three days a week – but those opposed to the new plans will hope they can coax the board into reneging before the point of no return.

With lots of companies now offering remote working roles and video conferencing software more advanced than ever, it’s hardly a surprise that the new mandate hasn’t gone down well with Amazon’s workforce.

Amazon Employees Incensed

Around 5,000 Amazon employees have now signed a petition calling for Amazon’s return-to-office mandate to be scrapped, according to recent reports.

The petition argues that the data clearly shows employees prefer to work either fully remotely or come into the office just one or two days a week, and also noted research charting increases in productivity in remote working environments.

Arguments relating to the effect the new policy will have on many workers’ now-established routines and general work-life balance were also made, while the pointlessness of coming into offices to have virtual meetings was highlighted.

Breakaway Slack Channel Created

16,000 staff on the tech giant’s payroll are now part of a breakaway Slack channel where the petition was drafted, which was initially set up for employees to share concerns regarding the new policy.

Amazon actually prevented employees from engaging with CEO Andy Jassy’s initial internal announcement – they were unable to like or comment on it – so instead, they took to “Inside Amazon”, the company’s newsfeed, to air their frustrations.

“By arbitrarily forcing return-to-office without providing data to support it and despite clear evidence that it is the wrong decision for employees, Amazon has failed its role as earth’s best employer,” one comment seen by CNBC says. “I believe this decision will be detrimental to our business and is antithetical to how we make decisions at Amazon.”

Is the Tide Changing on Remote Work?

When companies as influential as Amazon enforce return-to-office mandates like this, the rest of the tech industry often sits up and takes notice. But whether they will follow suit is another question entirely.

Throughout the last three years, there’s been a myriad of surveys, reports, and datasets that suggest that remote work does not affect productivity in the way many bosses think it does, and can be a powerful tool for retaining top talent.

However, as is the case with Amazon, it’s often members of the C-suite making the final decisions on company-wide policies. And of course, for many teams, there are advantages to being in the same physical space as one another. It used to be impossible to replicate seamless, face-to-face collaboration, however, but video conferencing software has closed the gap in recent years.

Determining what your remote working policy should entail is a big decision for any company – but involving your employees more in the process, and being flexible, will ensure you don’t end up with an amazon-style revolt on your hands.

As Elon Musk’s personal wealth dwindles at record-breaking speed, the Twitter CEO is still refusing to pay Twitter’s bills — despite claiming the company is no longer in the “fast lane to bankruptcy”.

The missed bill payments, which amount to over $14 million, are leaving countless landlords, consultants, and vendors out of pocket, and are resulting in at least nine lawsuits being bought against the platform. 

Major offices in Asia, Europe, and the US have already been shuttered due to Musk’s payment freeze, and little effort is being made to prevent further closures. Here’s what we know so far. 

Twitter Faces Nine Lawsuits for Failing to Pay $14M Worth of Bills 

Since Musk officially took the reigns at Twitter HQ, the serial CEO has stopped paying monthly bills in a shameless attempt to cut costs across the company.

After months of evading payments, a slew of landlords, consultants, and vendors have decided to take legal action, with the company currently facing at least nine lawsuits that seek to recover a total of  $14 million in unpaid bills.

According to the Wall Street Journal, three of the nine lawsuits involve disputes over Twitter’s office space, with one landlord alleging that the platform owes him over $6.8 million in back payments for its San Francisco headquarters. 

Other cases involve the US-based advisory firm Innisfree M&A, which is seeking around $1.9 million for unpaid bills that have mounted since Musk’s acquisition in October of last year, and the marketing company Canary LLC which is pursuing debts of almost $400,000.

Included in Canary’s long list of invoices is a $6,784 “swag gift box” featuring a $689 bottle of whiskey and custom cheese board that was ordered for Musk before his arrival at the company.

Musk is Desperately Trying to Save Twitter from Bankruptcy

Avoiding bills is only one cost-saving initiative Musk has adopted since taking over the company.

After inheriting $13 billion in company debts last October, the former world’s richest man has been committed to “cutting costs like crazy”. As part of this tirade, Musk has made a series of rash decisions including shutting down offices across the globe, slashing employee benefits, and of course, firing approximately 5,000 of the company’s workforce. 

Musk has also tried to diversify his revenue streams by charging $8 a month for Twitter verification with “Twitter Blue”, turning to venture capitalists to secure funding, and hosting a bizarre online garage sale where he auctioned off merchandise like Twitter’s neon bird and a La Marzocco coffee machine to the public.

Despite the Chief Executive’s best efforts to avoid bankruptcy, Twitter’s interest debts are $300m and climbing, and the company has yet to secure a sustainable profit-making strategy. But where does this leave Twitter’s creditors and employees?

The Human Cost of Musk’s Twitter Takeover 

As Twitter’s financial woes mount, and Elon Musk’s personal wealth shrinks by $182bn a year – breaking the Guinness World Record for ‘largest loss of personal fortune in history – it’s unlikely the social media giant will be able to recover its debts anytime soon. 

However, while these remittances may just be a drop in the ocean for Musk, who currently still sits on an estimated net worth of $198.2bn, they have very real consequences for those who are still waiting to be paid.

A source looking to recover debts of hundreds of thousands of dollars told Axois “they owe me the money, but then those dollars would go out to nearly 25 other people.”

This human cost extends to Twitter’s employees too. As bills remain unpaid, many landlords are considering blocking Twitter’s access to their buildings, including to the company’s Colorado and San Fransisco offices.

If these evictions take place, even more workers will be forced out of their offices and potentially out of their jobs, joining the ranks of former employees that were let go after their offices closed in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Mexico, and Ghana.

As younger workers strengthen their commitment to environmental and social causes, many are willing to turn their back on companies that don’t align with their values.

This movement, which is being dubbed “conscious quitting”, is catching speed quickly too, with new research by KPMG revealing that 82% of UK workers place great importance on shared corporate values, and one in five actively turning down jobs that they deem to be lacking.

According to Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, this trend should be ringing more alarm bells than quiet quitting — the lackluster workplace practice that refers to workers putting in the bare minimum. But what does the data reveal about conscious quitting, and what can employers do to prevent workers from searching for greener pastures?

What is Conscious Quitting?

“Conscious quitting” is a new workplace buzzword that describes employees leaving their current workplace for companies that better align with their environmental and social values.

Not to be confused with quiet quitting or resenteeism, conscious quitting often involves actual quitting and stems from fundamental ethical and moral concerns, rather than general grievances like job dissatisfaction and limited growth opportunities.

The Results Are In: Young Workers Are Voting With Their Feet

Issues like corporate responsibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and global warming have consistently ranked as high priorities among gen Z and millennials. However, while these concerns are nothing new, recent data suggests that conscious quitting may be more widespread than previously thought.

A KPMG survey of 6,000 UK employees has revealed that 20% of office workers would turn down a job if environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors were lacking, while 82% see ‘shared values’ as a key consideration while finding new work.

These beliefs aren’t hypothetical either. The research also found that one in five workers have actually turned down opportunities that don’t align with their values, with this portion rising to one in three for Gen Z employees ages 18 to 24. But are sentiments as strong on this side of the pond?

“Forget quiet quitting, we are entering an era of conscious quitting.” – Paul Polman, Former CEO of Unilever

According to a recent survey by Paul Polman, former Chief Executive of Unilever, yes, conscious quitting definitely is taking place on US soil, and data suggests it may be even more popular than in the UK.

In a survey of 4000 US and UK workers released by Polman this month, it was found that three in four employees wanted to work for a company that has a positive impact on the world, compared to only two in the UK-focused survey.

A shocking 45% of workers would consider quitting their position if their company didn’t deliver a positive impact, with even higher numbers being recorded for members of the millennial and gen Z workforce.

Going Green: Environmentalism is Becoming More Mainstream

According to Paul Nolman, this conscious movement shouldn’t be taking business leaders by surprise.

The businessman describes the era we are currently living through as a “perma-crisis” where issues like pandemics, war, global warming, economic turmoil, and social division stand to threaten our stability and future.

Nolman points out that these concerns are more acute among younger generations since they are disproportionately burdened by many of these matters. For these reasons, it makes sense why young workers are increasingly opting to be part of the solution, rather than the problem.

These opinions aren’t expected to fade over time either, with recent research from Deilotte revealing that second to the rising cost of living, climate change is the top concern of 24% of Gen Z and 25% of millennial workers, garnering even more support than issues like unemployment, mental health, and sexual harassment.

But if you’re worried about the impact conscious quitting may have on your workforce, there are steps you can take to move your business in the right direction.

How Businesses Can Prevent Conscious Quitting

If businesses are looking to continue employing and retaining top talent, they can’t turn a blind eye to issues that contribute towards conscious quitting, like climate change, socio-economic inequality, and racial injustice.

But if you don’t currently demonstrate a commitment to important causes, hope is not lost. According to Paul Polman, businesses take steps to close this “ambition gap” employees are seeing between their values and the company, while improving their resiliency at the same time.

The former CEO says this can be achieved in three major ways — by showing a greater ambition for your values and impact, doing a better job at communicating this, and empowering your employees to help you along the way.

While change within businesses is possible, it’s not something that will be achieved overnight. But as Polman explains, as increasing portions of the workforce are foregoing often well-paid opportunities for the greater good, now it’s time for business leaders to prove that they care too.

Since the start of the pandemic, work-life balance has been all the rage, with remote work policies showing employees that there’s more to life than staying in the office all day. While there are now a wide range of companies offering remote work as standard for employees, some businesses are taking it a step further by offering a much-anticipated perk: the four-day work week.

The impact of working a four-day week has been studied quite thoroughly, from small businesses to entire countries, and the results are almost universally positive. Improved productivity, better mental health, and higher revenue have been common among companies that have tested it out, with virtually every single participant in the experiment opting to stick with the four-day work week.

In this guide, we’ll explain the four-day work week and its benefits, as well as provide you with a frequently updated list of tech companies currently offering the four-day work week to their employees.

11 companies that offer a 4-day work week:

• Amazon
• Basecamp
• BigLaw
• Bolt
• Buffer
• CARFAX
• Ecosia
• Forbes Advisor
• Kickstarter
• KRÜSS
• Lamborghini
• Microsoft
• Panasonic
• Samsung
• thredUp
• Toshiba

What Is the 4-Day Work Week?

Unlike the majority of tech jargon, working a 4-day week is pretty self-explanatory. Rather than working for the standard five days a week, employees at your business would only work four days a week. Pay would remain the same, but you would simply encourage your team to finish the same amount of work in less time.

While that may seem like a daunting task, research has found that employees are actually more productive and report feeling better about work too, which feels like a no-brainer for business owners. Still, decision makers haven’t been as quick to adopt the new system as you’d think, particularly given the overwhelming data in favor of the change. In fact, a new study was recently released that further cements the potential value of the 4-day work week, with employees and employers alike reporting a wide range of benefits from increased revenue to better work-life balance.

“We think there is a lot here that ought to motivate other companies and industries to give it a try.” –  David Frayne, a research associate at University of Cambridge, who worked on the study.

If you’re interested in working for a company that offers the 4-day work week, we don’t blame you. Fortunately, there are some companies that have gotten on board.

Companies That Offer the 4-Day Work Week

Whether you’re considering implementing the four-day work week at your business or simply looking to find a job with a more flexible schedule, we’ve put together a list of tech companies that are currently offering some kind of four-day work week policy. Take a look at the list below and be sure to check back to see if any new companies have been added:

Amazon

While not every employee at Amazon enjoys the four-day work week, the massive ecommerce retailer has been getting on the bandwagon as of late. Between October 2021 and March 2022, almost one third of job listings for Amazon mentioned offering a four-day work week. While that’s a far leap from embracing the trend entirely, it does point to a growing trend in the business world.

Basecamp

You’ve likely heard of summer hours before, but Basecamp took it a step further and now offers summer weeks, in the form of a four-day work week from May 1st through August 31st every single year. Basecamp has actually been well ahead of the curve on this one, considering this policy has been in place since 2008. Still, we hope Basecamp will see the value of the shortened schedule every month of the year, but summertime is good enough for now.

BigLaw

Multiple firms under the BigLaw umbrella adopted the 4-day work week in the summer of 2023, including Davis Polk & Wardwell, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges. The move has been for a true 4-day work week, in which employees only work from Monday to Thursday, getting an extra day off every Friday, for the same pay.

Bolt

In 2021, Bolt Financial tested the four-day work week for three months and the results were overwhelmingly positive. Rather than return to the old way of doing things, the company embraced change and adopted the four-day work week for all employees on January 1st, 2022. Bolt still encourages employees to work when they want, but they’ve made those four days a week “when you collaborate,” according to an interview with the founder, so meetings can’t get in the way of a perfectly good Friday.

Buffer

Buffer is always on the cutting edge of business trends, leading the charge on wage transparency. Well, in May 2020, the company made another decision to test out the four-day work week for employees with stellar results, with 91% stating they are happier and more productive after the shift, according to a Buffer employee survey. Now, the social media management company has fully implemented the policy for the foreseeable future.

“This 4-day workweek period is about well-being, mental health, and placing us as humans and our families first.” – Joel Gascoigne, CEO of Buffer

CARFAX

A 4-day work week some of the time is better than a 4-day work week none of the time, at least that’s the view at CARFAX, which allows employees to partake in the popular perk, but only during the summer. It is a full-on 32-hour work week, though, rather than an increased workload from Monday to Thursday, which is a good boost.

Ecosia

Ecosia is a search engine with a difference – the company pledges to use ad revenue to plant trees, and has planted 150 million to date. However, it’s not just the environment that the company cares about – it also looks after its staff, offering them a 4-day week, and employees can work remotely. However, it’s worth noting that those that opt to work 4-day weeks at the company take a financial hit, and are only entitled to 80% salary.

Forbes Advisor

Forbes Advisor is an arm of the American business magazine that focuses on providing actionable advice to those interested in building up their financial future. While the company hasn’t fully committed to the 4-day work week yet, employees do get every 3rd Friday of the month off, providing an additional twelve long weekends per year to its workers.

Kickstarter

You won’t just find new ideas on the pages of Kickstarter, as the fundraising company has been utilizing the four-day work week for months with excellent results. Like most companies, Kickstarter tested the policy before fully committing, and was shocked at how the four-day work week improved the bottom line of the company “through productivity gains that have resulted from staff finding smarter ways to work.”

KRÜSS

That’s right, the 4-day work week is fully international, with the German company known as a world leading supplier of measuring instruments for surface and interfacial tension announcing that it employs would enjoy the popular employee perk. It’s not a full 4-day work week, though, as the company is requiring 36-hour weeks, which means employees will have to work nine hours per day for four days per week.

Lamborghini

Luxury cars come with luxury employee perks, with Lamborghini announcing in December 2023 that its production workers will only have to work four days per week for the same pay. This is a first for the automotive industry in Europe, which has been notably behind the 4-day workweek trend.

Microsoft

Even big companies like Microsoft have to take note of productivity gains like the ones reportedly during four-day work weeks. At least, that was the case for Microsoft Japan, which tested out the policy in 2019 and never looked back due to a 40% increase in productivity. Sure, the US offices haven’t followed suit just yet, but it’s only a matter of time before businesses start recognizing that the four-day work week is the way forward.

Panasonic

Much like Microsoft, Panasonic also decided to test out the four-day work week in its Japan offices, and while results were excellent, the focus wasn’t on the bottom line of the company, but rather the overall health and well-being of employees in the long term.

“We must support the wellbeing of our employees.” – Kusumi Yuki, CEO of Panasonic

Samsung

That’s right, the South Korean-based tech giant is planning to test out the 4-day work week, but there are some serious caveats to the announcement. For starters, workers will only get to work four days a week once per month. On top of that, you have to confirm that you’ve satisfied your monthly required working hours. All that to say, Samsung is really wading into the 4-day work week waters slowly, but hopefully it turns into something a bit more substantial.

thredUp

As was the case with the majority of these companies, thredUP started off the four-day work week as an experiment to see if it had any real-life impact. Not only did it improve productivity, but thredUP CEO James Reinhart said that it also helped them attract top talent, with more than half of new hires noting the four-day work week is a primary driver in their decision to accept a position with the company.

“I think being a pioneer is never easy, but I think if you take a first principles approach to how do you design work, ultimately what you find is that employees who are well rested, engaged, happy and stable have longevity at the company.” – James Reinhart, CEO and co-founder of thredUP

Toshiba

A three-day weekend always sounds good, but not every company is taking the spirit of the four-day work week to heart. Toshiba is one of those companies, allowing employees to only work four days a week, but still requiring 40 hours per week. This makes for some pretty long hours during the week, but hey, at least you can enjoy those holiday weekends to the absolute fullest.

Working a Four-Day Week

There are plenty of benefits to working a 4-day week, and the studies that have taken place in this area have been extremely positive. One of the key studies to date was a UK program that saw 60 firms trial the new approach. At the end of the trial, a massive 90% of those involved decided to stick with the 4-day week, find that staff were happier, and that productivity didn’t suffer.

Naturally, there are some adjustments needed. Just because you don’t work a certain day of the week, it doesn’t mean that your supplier, clients or customers don’t either, so companies that opt for the 4-day week need to be mindful of solutions to issues like this. Equally, it’s important that firms don’t simply condense a five-day week into four days and ask staff to ‘make up’ the hours lost on the fifth day.

If you’re looking for a little flexibility when it comes to your work schedule, we don’t blame you. There are plenty of benefits for your workers and employers alike when it comes to easing back the workload of employees, which is why we’ve also created a guide listing the companies offering unlimited PTO, so your next vacation won’t be at risk.

If you’d rather work from home, check out our guide to companies that offer remote positions.