The mass shift to remote and hybrid working that occurred during the pandemic, as well as the dire economic conditions facing businesses, have caused a myriad of novel changes to the world of work.

One major change is that businesses of all shapes and sizes are offering more perks and initiatives that benefit employees than ever, in an effort to both retain and attract the top talent in their respective sectors through flexible working conditions.

Microsoft became the latest big tech company to offer unlimited PTO (Paid Time Off) to salaried employees, who now have no enforceable limit on how much vacation time they can take.

But what other companies are offering unlimited PTO, how does unlimited PTO work, and is it something we’ll see more of this year?

In this article:

• What is Unlimited PTO?
• Companies with Unlimited PTO
• How Does Unlimited PTO Work?
• Unlimited PTO Statistics: What the Data Says
• Should My Company Adopt Unlimited PTO?
• Hidden Benefits of Unlimited PTO
• Creating an Unlimited PTO Policy

What is Unlimited PTO?

Unlimited PTO stands for unlimited Paid Time off. It’s also sometimes referred to as “discretionary time off”, “unlimited vacation” or “extended vacation.”

Although companies don’t always mean exactly the same thing when they use the term unlimited PTO, it generally refers to any vacation policy where there is no limit to the number of days an employee is allowed to take off during a given year.

Companies With Unlimited PTO

Microsoft is not the first company to offer unlimited PTO in the tech sector, with a number of other major corporations already offering endless vacations at employees’ discretion.

In fact, many of these companies have been offering it for years. One recent survey involving 200 large US media, tech, and finance businesses found that 20% were offering some form of unlimited PTO. We’ve put together a list of firms with unlimited PTO options, and detailed what their unlimited PTO policy actually entails.

16 companies that offer unlimited PTO:

• Microsoft
• Zoom
• Twitter
• Netflix
• LinkedIn
• Asana
• Hubspot
• Oracle
• Sony Electronics
• Roku
• Remote
• Skillshare
• Vimeo
• VMWare
• Evernote
• Coinbase

Microsoft

As we’ve already mentioned, Microsoft announced plans to offer unlimited PTO to employees, starting January 16, 2023. However, this is only be available to employees working within the United States, and it won’t be offered to those working hourly jobs with Microsoft anywhere in the world.

10 corporate holidays, sick days, and leaves of absence will remain, and employees with unused vacation balances will get a one-off payment in April.

Microsoft says that “modernizing its vacation policy to a more flexible model” was the next step in the company’s transformation.

However, Rob Whalen of PTO exchange told GeekWire that the move was financially motivated, and an attempt to remove the need to pay out unused vacation time when an employee departs the company.

Zoom

Web conferencing app Zoom, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic, offers unlimited PTO for its employees.

Zoom calls its unlimited PTO “My-Time-Off” and describes it as an “extended vacation policy.” As well as this, employees will get 11 paid holidays a year as standard.

Zoom’s version of unlimited PTO is only available for salaried employees, with Zoom’s hourly employees instead placed on what Zoom calls a “rich” PTO plan.

Zoom also offers remote roles covered by Zoom’s My-Time-Off policy available.

Twitter

Twitter has been offering unlimited PTO as a staff benefit for some time. Along with it, the company also offers 20 weeks of maternity and paternity leave, which is more than most US companies.

Whether it will stay in place throughout Elon Musk’s continually tumultuous reign at the helm of the social media network, however, is anyone’s guess.

Netflix

Streaming giant Netflix has offered unlimited PTO for some time now, which they call their “No Vacation Policy.” At Netflix, staff members decide when they want to work.

“We don’t have a prescribed 9-to-5 workday, so we don’t have prescribed time off policies for salaried employees, either” the media company explains on its jobs portal.

“We don’t set a holiday and vacation schedule, so you can observe what’s important to you—including when your mind and body need a break.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings advises in his 2020 book, No Rules Rules, that “if you want to remove your vacation policy, start by getting all leaders to take significant amounts of vacation and talk a lot about it.” This, he says, will make staff feel comfortable taking off the time that they need.

Linkedin

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has been offering unlimited PTO for a long time prior to its parent company’s decision to do the same.

LinkedIn employees have been able to take discretionary time off since 2015, in line with their company values, which say employees should “act like an owner” while working for LinkedIn.

“With discretionary time off, there is no set minimum or maximum amount of vacation time employees can take in a year,” the then-Chief People Officer Pat Wadors, now CPO of UKG, which also offers unlimited PTO, explained in a post on the platform at the time.

Asana

Popular project management software provider Asana provides unlimited vacation time for staff. According to Comparably, 60% of Asana’s staff say unlimited PTO is the most important staff benefit that the company currently provides for them.

“The best thing is unlimited PTO, and the worst thing is that PTO is unlimited,” says one Asana employee on glassdoor.

However, the employee also highlights that “the downside of unlimited PTO is that there is no guidance on what is the ‘right’ amount of days to take off.”

Hubspot

Hubspot offers unlimited PTO because, they say, “employees are treated like people, not line items.”

“Employees are whole people, with families, hobbies, and lives outside of work” Hubspot explains on its website. “We work remotely, keep non-traditional hours, and use unlimited vacation to create work-life “fit” for us and the people we love.”

Oracle

Software company Oracle facilitates unlimited vacation time for salaried employees who can’t get overtime.

The only real stipulation is that it has to be signed off by a manager, so lots of staff aren’t heading off on their holidays while the company requires their services.

According to Comparably, however, only 25% of Oracle employees say it is their most important benefit, with 401K contributions ranking higher.

Sony Electronics

Sony Electronics offers all salaried employees unlimited paid time off, recognizing the value of employees being able to relax, unwind and recharge their batteries as and when they need to.

One employee confirms on Glassdoor that Sony offers “unlimited vacation for salaried employees with the manager’s approval”, and commented that “many people take personal vacations a few times a year.”

Roku

Roku’s Comparably profile details that employees cite unlimited vacation as the second best perk currently offered at the company for workers.

“For salaried employees, we don’t track vacation” Roku confirms on its website. “Instead, you can take what you think is appropriate, as long as you get your job done and don’t impact the team’s work.”

Remote

Remote helps companies manage remote employees anywhere in the world, so as you’d expect, the company has a pretty solid work from home policy.

However, as if that wasn’t enough to entice you to send in your CV, it also offers its staff unlimited PTO. There’s some caveats – leave must be signed off by a manager, and employees may be restricted by when they can be off if colleagues are absent at the same time, but these considerations are fairly standard.

Skillshare

Skillshare is an online learning community for creators that hosts online classes and lessons.

A forward-thinking company, Skillshare not only offers employees unlimited vacation every year but also enforces a minimum amount of time off that employees must take.

On top of this, Skillshare also offers paid sabbaticals for tenured employees, and even a monthly coffee and tea reimbursement of up to $25.

Vimeo

Online video platform Vimeo offers its staff unlimited PTO, as well as the option to work in the office or at home (or a mix, if you’d rather).

Not only that, but Vimeo also closes its offices at 1pm the day before a national holiday. It also has a generous parental leave policy.

VMWare

Cloud computing company VMWare has a “non-accrual policy” for holidays that covers salaried employees based in the US.

“You may take time off from work when you and your manager agree, based on business needs” the company’s unlimited PTO Policy reads.

“You should discuss your time off in advance with your manager so that business coverage is in place while you are out of the office” the company adds.

Evernote

The company behind one of the most popular note apps take its vacation seriously. Not only does it offer unlimited PTO, it even gives staff a $1,000 stipend to spend on vacations of five days or more, too.

The company has a flexible approach to working, allowing its staff to work from home, or the office, depending on their preference. It has physical offices in the US, Chile and Japan.

Coinbase

According to a number of online sources, the cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase offers unlimited vacation time.

However, on the anonymous professional network Blind, one former Coinbase employee details his negative unlimited PTO experience he had with Coinbase.

“During my 18 months[sic] of employment, I didn’t take a single day off. I couldn’t, because the workload was insane and I knew people who were PIP’ed for taking time off” they explain.

“So I never did it. The layoffs came and it came with a funny surprise! Because the company has unlimited PTO as a policy, you don’t get to be paid for the time off you didn’t use.”

Other companies offering unlimited PTO

There are actually a whole lot more companies offering unlimited PTO. Some of the most well-known businesses offering unlimited vacation include:

• Salesforce (CRM and marketing software)
• Goldman Sachs (Banking & finance)
• UKG (HR, payroll and workforce management)
• Stacker (data-driven news reporting)
• Veritone (enterprise AI solutions)
• General Electric (various electrical goods & services)

How Does Unlimited PTO Work?

In theory, unlimited PTO means employees could take weeks – or even months – off work at one time. However, unlimited PTO policies operate on the basis that trusted, valued and capable employees won’t abuse the policy in this way.

“To date, it’s been an overwhelming success. Productivity has actually gone up and employee morale is at an all-time high,” explains Thomas Hawkins, CEO of Electrician Apprentice HQ. However, he warned that “oversight is needed” to avoid “negative outcomes.”

In most instances where unlimited PTO is offered, staff will still request the time off via their manager. Few companies operate an off-the-cuff time-off free-for-all.

It’s definitely advised to have some supplementary PTO guidelines around how you book time off, and these can be created on a company-wide or team-by-team basis. For instance, allowing employees to book any time off they want, so long as they do it a specified amount of days before the proposed vacation date (depending on your business’s needs), will minimize both potential disruptions to your operations and the number of vacation requests you’re denying.

A successful unlimited PTO policy is all about trust and communication, between employees and managers particularly. If guidelines are planned out early on in a cooperative and transparent manner, it’s a lot easier to ensure it runs smoothly.

Unlimited PTO: What the Data Says

However, according to the available data, it’s unlikely that companies with unlimited PTO are worrying about staff abusing their vacation system.

Last year, HR software company Namely examined the PTO plans offered by 1,000 businesses they work closely with.

Namely found that the average employee in a company with an unlimited PTO policy took an average of just 12.09 days off per year, whereas employees at companies with limited PTO policies took 11.36 days off.

Interestingly, when Namely ran a similar study back in 2018, they actually found that employees with unlimited PTO actually took less time off per year (13) than employees with limited vacation time (15).

Namely also revealed, between the last time they conducted this study (2018) and 2022, the number of companies offering unlimited PTO rose by 34.5% – which may suggest more companies are willing to put myths and misconceptions about the negative outcomes of unlimited PTO to one side.

Should My Company Adopt Unlimited PTO?

Thousands of companies now offer unlimited vacation to employees, so your business certainly won’t be alone in doing so. Many companies report the positive effects of giving employees more power over how much time they take off work.

For HR software company Checkr, it “allows [their] employees to have more flexibility in their schedules, making it easier for them to balance personal and professional responsibilities” Chief People and Operations Officer Linda Schaffer explains.

She says that Checkr’s teams are “happier, more productive and engaged” and that this has culminated in “improved customer service satisfaction scores.”

“Going on vacation helps prevent employee burnout. Giving my employees breaks has had a big effect on my business’s effectiveness and productivity” – Spencer Reese, CEO of Millitary Money Manual.

Zephyr Chan, founder of bettertools.io, said he’s seen an “increase in results” since unlimited PTO was rolled out at his company.

“Without even pressing employees or increasing their workload, there is an innate sense of responsibility among workers” he explained to Tech.co. “…Productivity has skyrocketed. Our employees understand that this is a give-and-take situation. They benefit the company, and in return, we take care of them.”

Hidden Benefits of an Unlimited PTO Policy

Although it’s a pretty big benefit, allowing employees to take the time off that they need to in order to revitalize themselves for maximum productivity isn’t the only good thing about PTO.

“Under traditional PTO policy, employees usually rush towards availing the days off during December,” Editor-in-Chief of Inside Tech World, Aima Irfan, explains. “This resulted in a lot of employees taking time off at the same time. This is no longer the case anymore.

“With the unlimited PTO, the time off for employees is equally spread out over the year. Conclusively, it has helped us boost results, revenue, number of employees, and business growth” –  Aima Irfan, Editor-in-Chief, Inside Tech World.

Spencer Reese of Military Money Manual found that upskilling staff was easier after instating an unlimited PTO policy.

“I can cross-train other employees while some are at work and the others are gone. This helps them become more effective as a team and provides an excellent backup in case employees suddenly leave” he told Tech.co.

Unlimited PTO can also be a godsend to parents of young children.

“Working at a company that offers unlimited vacation is a game changer – as a parent!” explains Sarah Crimes, Marketing Director at British firm The Point. 1888.

“As we all know children’s holidays are long… having more flexibility around the amount of holiday I take has massively improved my life and means I have to pay far less in childcare costs over the holidays.”

It’s also a great way to keep talented individuals at your company. “Retaining employees is a fairly difficult task that most companies struggle with,” says Paul Mallory, CEO of ConsumerGravity, who described unlimited vacation days as “the answer to this problem.”

On top of this, Mallory says his “company’s productivity levels have increased, and employees are now more efficient than before.”

Creating an Unlimited PTO Policy

The data discussed earlier on in this article suggests that, on the whole, companies with unlimited PTO should probably be more worried about employees not taking enough time off, rather than taking off too much. With that in mind, here are some tips if your business wants to launch an unlimited PTO policy:

• Don’t call it unlimited PTO. Although this might sound good on a job listing designed to persuade people to apply, it’s hyperbolic. There are better ways to describe the process of employees having more power over how much time they take off work. Zoom’s “My-Time-Off” is a great example.
• Have a structured vacation request system. Having a system in place that will allow employees to book time off as and when they need to and minimize, as well as guidelines on when it is appropriate to do so, will ensure everyone is on the same page and you’re not constantly denying requests and in turn tanking morale.
• Connect it to your company values. LinkedIn links its discretionary time off policy to the company’s “act like an owner” value. If employees can clearly see how unlimited PTO fits into your company’s over-arching value structure, they’re more likely to utilize it in the right way, and for the right reasons.
• Enforce “minimum” time off. You can still offer unlimited PTO as well as provide a baseline number of days employees must take off per year, which is what companies like Skillshare do. This will ensure all employees understand that the company supports their decision to have time away from the office.

Most importantly, if your company is looking to offer an unlimited PTO plan, ensure you’re not inadvertently discouraging employees from taking time off by overloading them with work. This will make them less inclined to take days off and, in the long run, burn out.

It’s going to be a tough year for many businesses – so looking for new ways to incentivize employees, retain talent, and hire high-quality staff is only natural. Judging by the experiences of businesses that already have one, an unlimited PTO policy can definitely be part of the answer.

How Federal Pay and Remote Options Could Expand

The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is behind the potential for new pay raises for tech employees as part of a bid to expand federal IT.

The new pay guidance might be adapted by federal agencies, and the OPM says funding for the raises could be drawn from the 2021 infrastructure funding bill and 2022 CHIPS act.

“As the tech sector continues to see layoffs, the federal government is going to make a concerted effort to attract these individuals,” OPM Director Kiran Ahuja said in a statement.

IT workers see flexible work options as a big deciding factor, judging from the findings of a recent Legal & General U.S. Gig Economy study: “Among the drivers that could attract tech gig workers to return to the traditional workspace, flexible working is by far the most important,” the study says. “It’s significantly more important for this group than for gig workers in general.”

But it’s not all good news.

How Federal Hybrid Work Could Be In Danger

The House’s fresh Republication majority might throw a spanner in the works for the federal IT crowd, however: They’ve ushered in a new bill to roll back work-from-home policies under the questionable logic that workers can’t be as effective when working remotely.

True to form, the bill comes with a mouthful of a name that makes for a suitable acronym: It’s the “Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems,” or “SHOW UP” Act of 2023.

Introduced by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the bill would require all agencies to roll back their “telework policies, practices, and levels of the agency” to those that were in effect on December 31, 2019 – prior to the Covid pandemic-spurred shift towards greater flexibility.

It’s unlikely to be passed into law. Not only would it need to pass through the Democratic-controlled Senate and be approved by President Biden, but it could contradict union agreements. Still, SHOW UP illustrates the capricious nature of the federal government’s stance on remote work.

Working in Tech in 2023

Just this week, Microsoft announced 10,000 positions would be lost at the company, while Amazon continued layoffs that will eventually total around 18,000 jobs cut.

If you’re a tech worker hoping to land a stable, fully remote position, the federal government is a more attractive choice than it has been in years, in contrast with many major tech companies in 2023. But thanks to bills like SHOW UP, even federal jobs might not look as rosy in the future.

Crime doesn’t pay. Or, at least, it pays 40% less than it used to.

That’s according to researchers who found ransomware groups earned just $456.8 million across 2022, down from a peak of $765.6 million the year before.

It’s the rare bit of good news for those following this particular type of cyber crime, which has skyrocketed in recent years and still poses a considerable threat to businesses everywhere, particularly given the sharp rise of remote work.

Fewer Companies Are Paying Ransoms

Researchers at Chainalysis have tracked the last six years of ransomware payments, and in 2022, those payments were down across the industry for the first time in years.

The amounts refer to the total amount that the researchers have identified, so the true dollar amount of all the payments is likely higher. Still, the trend line has clearly started to arc downwards.

For those not in the know, a ransomware attack refers to a malicious software that is designed to lock up a business’s sensitive digital data. Once a ransom is paid, the attacker will ostensibly release the data back to the company.

In keeping with “don’t negotiate with terrorists” logic, most experts agree that businesses should always refuse to pay a ransom. However, studies show that businesses haven’t always agreed. One 2021 survey polled “300 US-based IT decision-makers” to find that a huge 85% had actually paid the ransom once they had fallen victim to a ransomware incident.

Now, that’s changing.

Ransomware’s Still a Big Problem

Granted, crime is still paying quite a bit, as $456.8 million remains a lot of money for anyone. And to make matters worse, the ransoms are the tip of the iceberg for money lost due to this type of cybercrime.

After all, any business that falls victim also loses revenue thanks to the locked data, some or all of which may never be recovered. Total costs surpassed $1.2 billion in 2021 alone, by one count.

The massive jump in ransomware payments between 2019 and 2020 is worth noting, as well. The Covid pandemic is the likely culprit, for two reasons. First, many companies were in disarray due to the unexpected disruptions caused by the need to isolate and stay distanced. But the second reason is more long-lasting: The pandemic spurred a greater shift to flexible and fully remote work, which has opened up more avenues for online criminals to access companies’ data.

Expanding remote work is definitely a good thing: Employees with remote work options are happier and healthier. But it does increase a business’s need to invest in cyber security. Tools like business VPNs, password managers, and remote access software can protect employees from unsecured networks or cyberphishing, and can alert a business to security holes.

Businesses are paying out fewer ransoms, which will eventually make ransomware a less attractive line of work for criminals around the globe. But investing in online security makes a business that much less likely to decide whether or not it needs to pay in the first place.

AmazonSmile has ended. Launched in 2013, the Amazon donation program allowed users to designate a charity to receive a 0.5% of any money paid for purchases through the massive ecommerce website.

Why shutter the service? Amazon cites a failure to “create the impact” that it had “hoped” for.

Responses have been mixed, with some arguing that the over $400 million that AmazonSmile raised for US charities represents a pretty large impact, and others pointing out that liquidating the service will actually end donations to a variety of hate groups as well as charities.

AmazonSmile Is Over

Amazon announced the end of AmazonSmile with a letter sent to customers this week.

The program will wind down on February 20, 2023. All charities impacted by the program’s end will be given a one-time payment equal to three months of their total 2022 donations, Amazon says.

“With so many eligible organizations — more than one million globally — our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin,” Amazon wrote. A spokesperson confirmed to NPR that the average amount per charity was $230.

Measuring “Impact”

Even small amounts can mean a lot for many small non-profits, and some took to Twitter to say as much.

One New York animal sanctuary said that the almost $9,400 it had received from the program “made a huge difference to us.”

#amazonsmile quarterly disbursements from our supporters helped cover expenses when we fell short on donations. We received nearly $4k since getting approved a few years ago… The program didn’t provide “meaningful change”? Our rescued kitties disagree. pic.twitter.com/TPeMCgznBm

— The Cat's Meow (@TheCatsMeowInc) January 19, 2023

Even the non-profits that had received below-average amounts were disappointed to hear the news, judging from examples like that of the Internet Archive. The digital library said on Twitter that AmazonSmile “was good while it lasted,” as it was responsible for a sum total of around $1,000.

Still, not every single one of AmazonSmile’s one-million-plus affiliated charities was universally approved, with some holding that hate groups and domestic terrorists were also in the mix.

AmazonSmile, the home to untold amounts raised for Jan 6th insurrectionist groups like Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, anti abortion and anti LGBTQIA+ hate groups, and Israeli apartheid settlers of Palestinian homes, is no longer.

👋https://t.co/XEwljfwzuT

— Athena Coalition (@athenaforall) January 19, 2023

However you feel about the loss of revenue for the variety of organizations that AmazonSmile funded, it’s tough to argue that the program didn’t have an impact. Just not the one that Amazon wanted.

Amazon Tightens Its Belt

Amazon isn’t having a great PR week. The news of Amazon’s charity program ending comes quick on the heels of another wave of layoffs at the company: Amazon has let go of 2,300 workers at its homebase in the Seattle area, as part of its larger plans to cut 18,000 jobs across the company.

The reason behind these layoffs? They’re “an important part of a wider effort to lower our cost to serve,” according to Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, and cutting the thousands of jobs will allow the ecommerce company to keep the “wide selection, low prices and fast shipping” that define it. Presumably, support for charities was also considered not to be a company-defining trait.

Microsoft has confirmed today that it plans to lay off 5% of its total workforce, with around 10,000 staff to be sent packing.

The tech industry has witnessed more layoffs in the past year and a half than ever before. Hundreds of thousands of tech workers were laid off in 2022, and that trend is expected to continue this year.

The fact that companies like Microsoft, with a market value of $1.78 trillion, haven’t been able to shield themselves from making layoffs is a grim illustration of how the current economic climate is drastically affecting the tech sector.

Microsoft To Lay Off Workers

In an email to staff, CEO Satya Nadella confirmed Microsoft’s rumored plans to cut over 10,000 workers from its payroll, which currently consists of over 220,000 staff across multiple countries. It blames “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.”

In the email, Nadella told staff that the layoff represented “less than 5 percent of our total employee base”, though that’s unlikely to be much comfort to those in the affected 5%.

However, it isn’t quite all doom and gloom, as Nadella did say that hiring would continue.

“While we are eliminating roles in some areas, we will continue to hire in key strategic areas” Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella

The move to axe a significant chunk of the company’s workforce comes as Microsoft continues to battle for regulatory approval for its $56 billion takeover bid of gaming company Blizzard.

It also comes days after the company announced a new policy that would allow employees to take unlimited vacation time.

A Sector in Disarray

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has made significant cuts in the last year – the tech giant laid off around 1,000 employees in October of 2022.

Although shocking at the time, the figure now pales in comparison to the number of employees being shed by the world’s largest tech companies.

Microsoft joins Salesforce, Twitter, and various other businesses in a cohort of multi-national tech companies that have had to cull thousands of workers in the past few months.

Most recently, Amazon said it would be cutting 18,000 roles, while Meta has been rescinding offers on full-time jobs, according to recent reports.

Many executives of US-based companies are now offering voluntary severance for employees, especially those who are coming to the end of their careers or on high wages.

Unfortunately, with the economy showing little signs of short-term improvement, more companies are likely to join Microsoft in taking drastic action over the next few months.

Delivery behemoth Amazon has begun piloting “Prime Lite” in India — a membership that gives users access to Prime Video and two-day delivery perks at a discounted rate.

The affordable service will soon be available to all Indian consumers for the equivalent price of $12 per year, $6 cheaper than Amazon’s regular Prime membership.

With Amazon warehouse workers already at capacity at home soil and US citizens already being squeezed by rising inflation rates, this ‘lite’ version of Prime could likely kill two birds with one stone. But is it expected to launch in the US any time soon?

Amazon Pilots Prime Lite Membership in India

Amazon has quietly been piloting a stripped-back version of its Prime membership in India, according to a recent report by TechCrunch.

The membership can currently only be accessed by select individuals, but will soon be available to all Indian consumers at the significantly discounted price of 999 Indian rupees ($12) per year, compared to the full Prime package which costs 1499 Indian rupees ($18) over the same period.

However, unlike its predecessor, Amazon Prime, which offers lots of benefits including same-day delivery, ad-free streaming, and access to the company’s extensive app catalog, Prime Lite’s package is slightly more limited.

We break down how these two tiers differ in detail below.

Amazon Prime vs Prime Lite: What’s the Difference?

As reported by TechCrunch, one of the major differences between Amazon Prime and its lite version is delivery guarantees. While Amazon Prime offers complimentary same-day, one-day and two-day shipping on eligible items, Prime Lite’s free deliveries are capped at two days.

What’s more, compared to Amazon Prime, which unlocks ad-free movies and TV shows and access to Amazon Music, Lite members are subject to adverts and are denied access to the popular music streaming service.

However, both Prime and Prime Lite members can use Prime Reading to borrow eBooks and comics free of charge and can benefit from exclusive deals and discounts across the site.

Is Amazon Prime Lite Coming to the US?

Amazon hasn’t yet released whether their Lite service will be available to US consumers.

Most of the company’s delivery breakthroughs have been trialed on US soil before being exported overseas — including Amazon’s original Prime service which was first rolled out across North America in 2005, and ‘Prime Air’ which debuted in Texas last year.

However, a number of Amazon initiatives have been covertly trialed overseas before being introduced to the US market.

Notably, before Dash Carts were deployed by the companies in Whole Foods across the country, Amazon trialed ‘Smart Stores in India’ — a similar program that allowed consumers to access product information and pay for goods by scanning QR codes.

Despite this trend, whether or not Amazon decides to launch Prime Lite in the US will largely depend on how successful the launch will go in India. But with one-day shipping pressures leading to a plethora of workers’ rights issues, from 12-hour days to escalating injuries, it’s safe to say this scaled-back, cost-effective delivery service would be welcomed with open arms.

Goldman Sachs Employees Left Jobless With No Bonus

Last week, Goldman Sachs kicked off its biggest round of layoffs since 2008, cutting over 3,200 jobs across the globe, in what some are now dubbing ‘David’s demolition day’, named after chief executive David Solomon. The cuts represented roughly 6.5% of Goldman Sachs’ staff, and have impacted the bank’s major divisions in New York, London, and Hong Kong, as well as other locations.

Of those affected, 1,000 are expected to impact the banking and trading functions, according to the Financial News. Of the job losses reported, most were given the news in ‘five-minute meetings’ with senior bankers, while others were called into ‘regular’ scheduled calendar meetings via Zoom.

In a statement released by the global bank on Wednesday, Goldman described its decision as a ‘difficult’ but stood firm.

“We’re grateful for all our people’s contributions, and we’re providing support to ease their transitions. Our focus now is to appropriately size the firm for the opportunities ahead of us in a challenging macroeconomic environment” – Global Head of Communications, Tony Fratto.

Due to the timing of the cuts, most employees will now miss out on their annual bonuses, which are due to be announced soon.

The layoffs come a month after the company warned of impending cuts, following a year of economic turbulence and market instability, with stock prices falling more the 15% since December 2021.

“There are a variety of factors impacting the business landscape, including tightening monetary conditions that are slowing down economic activity… For our leadership team, the focus is on preparing the firm to weather these headwinds.” – CEO, David Soloman.

Managers and Staff Describe Goldman Sachs Cuts as ‘Brutal’

Managers tasked with delivering the news of recent layoffs, described the process at Goldman Sachs as ‘brutal’ according to the Financial Times. With staff turning up to ‘meetings’ unaware of their fate, many were given just 30-minutes to leave the building.

Layoffs in India showed a similar theme, with The Indian Express reporting people being called in for ‘a quick meeting’ before being informed that they were fired, and swiftly escorted out of the building.

“Right after I was informed that I was being fired, I was escorted out of the building and asked to go home. I couldn’t even say bye to my friends” – software developer at Goldman’s Bangalore office.

Others were more shocked about the abruptness of the decision, describing it as ‘short-sighted’. A graduate, hired just months before layoffs were announced, questioned why new staff were hired in the first place.

“For a company that analyses all global trends about pretty much every industry, Goldman seemed pretty short-sighted when they were hiring me. Why would you employ someone if you have to lay them off in two months?” – former Goldman Sachs employee, India.

Business Insider reported that workers in New York were expected to receive 2-3 months’ worth of pay as severance, with an additional bonus for the number of years worked, but that most would miss out on their annual bonus, which can otherwise account for a significant proportion of employees’ compensation.

Further sources suggest that those who do receive a bonus, may receive a disappointing one, potentially to drive further employees out by their own choice, withot severance pay.

How to Navigate Layoffs in 2023

With 150,000 jobs lost in 2022, mass layoffs are showing no sign of slowing down. Businesses are struggling to adapt to post-pandemic demands, and will continue to cut costs to better manage company overheads.

If you’re concerned about being let go, there are number of warning signs you can look out for, according to global jobsite, Monster.com:

1. Hiring freezes
2. Your responsibilities being cut
3. Non-essential budgets being reduced
4. New products and projects being postponed
5. The company going through a merger
6. There’s talk of ‘restructure’
7. Layoffs have already begun

While some businesses are opting for voluntary separation, not all businesses are, so it’s important to keep your eye on the ball. If you’re concerned about your performance, you can optimize your workflow with quality project management tools, and stay connected with reliable web conferencing software to help improve communication. Businesses want to retain their top talent, so our advice is to become as indispensable as possible.

Despite an increasing demand for employees to return to in-office work, most managers are in favor of remote and flexible working arrangements, according to a new study by the University of Birmingham.

The report shows that 73% of managers believe flexible working arrangements have increased productivity, with 60% agreeing the same of employees who choose to work from home.

New data to support remote and flexible working will come as welcome news to many employees, as some employers are reversing remote work policies and demanding staff return to the office, despite downsides including a historic decline in productivity as a result. Here’s what we know.

Hybrid Working Attitudes Are Changing

The University of Birmingham, in the UK, has released its latest figures from an ongoing study into Flexible Working and the Future of Work, and the evidence suggests that line managers are becoming increasingly in favor of remote and flexible working models.

The study assessed 527 managers on their attitudes toward flexible work, including future support, spatial flexibility and changes around consultation and surveillance in the workplace. It measured responses in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

While remote working was relatively rare prior to the Covid pandemic, it seems attitudes have now shifted to reflect our learnings borne out of necessity, and more than half (59.5%) of the managers surveyed now believe that fully remote employees are more productive, with 51.8% agreeing that it also improved employee concentration.

An even higher number (73%) agree that flexible working arrangements increase productivity.

55% of managers reported being in favor of advertising more flexible work opportunities at the latest count, in comparison to the 50% reported in 2020.

“Precarious and Fragile Norms”

While attitudes to remote and flexible working have improved compared to pre-pandemic stigma, some evidence does suggest a regression in the past year. For example, 43.3% of the managers Birmingham University surveyed believed long hours were required for employees to advance in an organisation, in 2020. This number decreased to 38.7% in 2021, but increased again to 41.9% in 2022.

The report’s authors describe this creeping return of “long hours culture” and “presenteeism” as factors that “perpetuate inequalities” in workplaces, and argue that now is the time to strengthen and formalize new flexible working norms as well as extend them to front-line industries.

“COVID-19 working practices have dramatically impacted workplace norms around flexible working… More broadly, these changes are starting to reduce the stigma of flexible working to tackle the presenteeism culture as well as the long hours culture (which perpetuates) inequalities… However, we also see some signs between 2021 and 2022 that the long hours culture may be returning… which highlights the precarious and fragile nature of these new norms.” — University of Birmingham

This isn’t the first report to suggest more work still needs to be done to fully accept the benefits of flexible and remote working into our culture.

Remote Work Backlash and Skepticism

In 2022, Elon Musk famously demanded that “Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla”, claiming that remote work ‘tricked people into thinking that you don’t actually need to work hard’.

A Microsoft survey of more than 20,000 global knowledge workers also revealed that 85% of leaders reported hybrid work decreased employer confidence in employee productivity, with only 12% of employers reporting they had full confidence in the productivity of their team, despite 87% of employees reporting no issues at all.

Tech giant Google has openly discussed its concerns about employee productivity, in contrast to findings that suggest 30% of remote workers do more work in less time when working at home, and 77% show an increase in productivity. Meanwhile, both Google and Apple implemented flexible work restrictions that resulted in the loss of some of their key employees.

Some companies have responded to remote working concerns by increasing surveillance methods, an approach which the University of Birmingham notes is “widespread, despite an overriding view that it does not improve performance and erodes trust”.

On Friday, a company in Canada ordered a remote worker to pay back $2,498.99 in ‘time theft’ claiming her work was overbudget, after installing tracking software as evidence on her computer.

Benefits of Flexible and Remote Work

At Tech.co, we believe offering remote and flexible working, where possible, can springboard the success of your business. In addition to improved productivity, studies suggest that flexible and remote working can also offer a number of other benefits. These include improving staff wellbeing, retention and loyalty, diversity and inclusivity, and work-life balance, while reducing sick days and saving on running costs.

In the University of Birmingham’s study, managers also reported feeling more cheerful, calmer, better rested and more active in 2022 than they had been in 2021, due to their flexible working models – although line managers continued to report higher levels of stress than senior managers when researchers compared the stats overall.

We have also found that remote workers are more optimistic (89%) than their co-workers (77%), according to documented studies, and have more job satisfaction (90%) compared to those that commute to the office (82%). The saved time allows workers to enjoy more sleep and dedicate time to leisure, which results in happier employees – and employees who work harder.

Regarding performance, the University of Birmingham report shows that line managers were more likely to see flexible working as a ‘performance-enhancing tool’ (71.2%) than senior management (65.6%), indicating that senior management may be less in touch with the day to day impact of flexi-time.

How to Successfully Adopt a Flexible Working Model

The resulting recommendations from the University of Birmingham’s report advises organizations and managers to:

• “Encourage the assumption that all jobs will be available for some form of flexible working by default and task managers with thinking about how flexible working may apply”
• “Add information on flexible working in all job advertisements”
• and “Update performance management systems and promotion processes to be less focused on
  presenteeism and not disadvantage those working flexibly”

This is in addition to other measures to ensure a commitment to remote and flexible working. That’s not to say they ignored the challenges of implementation in workplaces. For example, the researchers questioned the following:

• “How do we ensure all industries embrace the journey to more accessible flexible working for jobs at all levels?”
• “How do we ensure that the focus on productivity and flexible working does not lead to work intensification, as people work through commuting times and find it difficult to switch off when working from home?”
• and “How do we ensure that new opportunities for flexible working are not only taken up by female carers, further gendering the concept of flexible working and creating a two-tier workforce?”

There is also the fact that 61% of managers agreed that working from home can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness, highlighting the challenges that can directly impact the productivity of your team.

Other concerns include cybersecurity, and workers spending more time online streaming.

Still, worker demand isn’t going away, and with 52% of staff willing to take an 11% pay cut to avoid returning to the office full-time, businesses need to consider alternative ways to build trust and support more flexibility.

Top Tips for Remote and Flexible Workforces

Fortunately, there are plenty of tools to help businesses successfully adopt a more flexible working model. Investing in web conferencing tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom is a great way to enable your teams to collaborate in real-time, more effectively.

Project management tools and other productivity-enhancing programs can also help to ensure your team is managing their time well, without micromanaging.

Creating healthy boundaries is also important when working from home. In the British university study, researchers found that 57% of managers agreed working from home can blur the lines between work and personal time – leading to burnout. To prevent this, it’s equally important to take regular breaks.

Switching off from work during non-working hours is just as important as being switched on when you’re on the clock, and setting clear expectations around your availability is the best way to promote a healthy work-life balance.

While some businesses, like Disney, are stepping away from more flexible working models, there are plenty of companies that offer great remote work opportunities and these are likely to attract the top talent in the long term. After all, it’s simple Darwinism that those most adaptable to change will win out in the end.

Read Tech.co’s top tips for managing a remote workforce.

Microsoft is changing its vacation policy to give its US salaried employees unlimited paid time off (PTO). The new policy, which goes into effect on January 16th, will allow salaried workers to take off as much time as they want.

The radical move, announced by Microsoft’s chief people officer this week, follows a successful year of innovation, and strategic moves to retain its top talent – despite its record-breaking layoffs.

At a time where quiet quitting is high, and businesses are being more restrictive in their policies, Microsoft’s flexibility may be a warm welcome for prospective employees. But, it’s not the only company to introduce the policy.

Microsoft’s Unlimited Vacation Policy Explained

On January 16th Microsoft will be giving its US employees unlimited PTO. The new policy, described as ‘Discretionary Time Off’ (DTO), will allow salaried employees at Microsoft to take as much vacation time as they need, without having to accrue paid leave.

Beginning January 16, 2023, Microsoft is modernizing our vacation policy to a more flexible model and transitioning to Discretionary Time Off (DTO)….How, when, and where employees do their jobs has dramatically changed and DTO aligns with more flexible ways of working. – Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft Chief People Officer.

In addition to DTO, Microsoft will offer workers 10 additional corporate holidays throughout the year, plus time off for bereavement, leaves of absence, sickness, mental heath and jury duty. Employees outside of the US, and on an hourly contract will not be entitled to DTO due to hourly laws,  and the differences  in Federal and State wage.

Eligible employees with unused vacation balances will receive a one-time payout for accrued days in April, and all new employees will no longer have to accrue their  vacation days.

What is Unlimited DTO, and Does it Work?

DTO is when a company no longer logs, tracks or requires employees to accrue vacation days in order to enjoy paid leave. The radical policy is designed to promote more flexibility in the work place, and encourages employees to collaborate with their supervisors to determine which vacation days they can use, and when – without specifying a maximum or minimum number of vacation days per year.

Businesses in favor of DTO have referred to the policy as a way to enable employees to ‘better meet their personal needs’ and bring their ‘best self to work’, while others question its legitimacy and practicality.

Users on Linkedin described DTO as simply ‘a way businesses to save money’ as companies will no longer be required to pay out vacation time when an employee leaves. Others felt it was a way to ‘discourage employees from taking time off in the first place’ as the agreement is still subject to approval.

Twitter users were also divided. Those in favor described Microsoft’s new vacation policy as ‘amazing news’ and a ‘massive upgrade to benefits’, whereas others were skeptical.

DTO, or unlimited vacation time in companies isn’t new. In 2003, Netflix introduced unlimited PTO as a way to ‘give high performers a little more control over their lives’ and demonstrate ‘trust’. CEO, Reed Hastings, stated ‘Time off provides mental bandwith that allows you to think creatively and see your work in a different light. If you are working all the time, you don’t have the perspective to see your problem, with free eyes.’

“I have never paid attention to how many hours people are working. So, why should I care if an employee works 50 weeks a year or 48 weeks a year?” – Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO.

Project management pioneers, Asana, is also known to promote unlimited PTO, as well tech company, Roku, who maintained that it was a strong part of their company culture – one that ‘pushes staff to be independent [and] productive at work, [while] maintaining a good work/home balance’.

Employee opinions appear to differ, though. On Twitter, users described DTO as being restrictive, and a way for business to grant less holidays – with some claiming they would avoid it altogether.

Others had more positive experiences, believing DTO to ultimately be a ‘good thing’ but highly dependent on the business or organization you’re working for.

Is Unlimited PTO Right For Your Business?

Whether unlimited PTO is right for your business will depend on the size of business, the culture and your business’ needs. In order for DTO to work, employees will need to ensure that their work is still delivered on time, and that there is cover for their workload – which could restrict employee flexibility.

Jobs board Reed reported a 20% hike in the number of new openings advertising unlimited vacation as a part of its benefits package in 2020, And in a competitive job market where companies are struggling to retain their top talent, and employees are demanding more flexibility, unlimited holidays could be a great incentive.

DTO isn’t for everyone though. Buffer, which introduced unlimited holidays in 2019, found that their employees were taking less holidays, so instead changed their policy to introduce a minimum vacation time of three weeks per year. And Kickstarter, changed its policy to a set number of days, for the same reason. Still, if the demand for remote work in last year has taught us anything, it’s that employees want more flexibility. Building trust, and prioritizing your employees needs may be the way to do it.

With the worst of the pandemic behind us, and life getting back to normal, there is still one huge overhang that refuses to go away — remote working. What started as a necessity has now become standard, at least for many companies.

Working remotely has become a smooth process these days, with tech like web conferencing seamlessly bridging the gap between the home and office. There are lots of great perks too – you might even live longer if you work from home (no, seriously).

If you’re looking for a remote job, be it fully working from home or hybrid, it’s good to know which ones allow it before you send in your application. Here are a few companies that allow you to work remotely from home, the industries and roles most likely to remote-job friendly, and how to work from home productively.

In this guide:

• Companies That Let You Work Remotely From Home
• Companies That Won’t Let You Work Remotely From Home
• Top Remote Jobs and Industries
• Is Working From Home Right for Me?

Companies That Let You Work Remote Jobs From Home

There are lots of companies that offer remote jobs in 2024, from large multinational corporations to small firms. These include:

• Microsoft
• AirBnB
• Disney
• Slack
• Spotify
• Dropbox
• Uber

1. Microsoft

Microsoft is a huge champion of hybrid work, and for good reason. It sells a suite of software designed to facilitate communication between remote workers, notably the Microsoft Teams web conferencing platform, which has bridged the gap between home and office for many workers globally.

If you’re looking to join the tech giant though, make sure to ask if you’ll be allowed to work from home remotely. The company does allow it, but those who want to do it more than 50% of the time must have the request signed off by their manager. Make sure you’ve got it in writing before you sign that contract.

2. Airbnb

It tracks that Airbnb, a company that specializes in traveling and vacations, would let its staff work remotely. You don’t even need to be at home. As of April 2022, the company announced that employees were free to work from home (or the office, if they chose), permanently.

In addition, employees are also allowed to move anywhere within the country that they live in, with no negative impact on salary. This isn’t the case with all companies. For example, last year Google implemented a calculator that worked out how much their salary would be affected depending on where they were located.

You don’t even need to stick to your own country — the remote working policy allows staff to work from over 170 counties for up to 90 days a year.

Even Airbnb’s CEO is ditching the office, using the company’s properties as temporary base.

3. Slack

Messaging platform Slack was ahead of the curve, announcing that employees could work from home permanently way back in June 2020, when the pandemic was only a few months in.

The company also stated that it would look to increasingly hire remote workers going forward — great news for all you non-commuters out there. CEO Stewart Butterfield recently confirmed that the company had hired “thousands of people who are in locations where we don’t have an office at all.”

4. ZenDesk

Zendesk claims to be one of the first companies to pivot to a full remote workforce during the pandemic.

Initially the company had planned for employees to return to the office two days a week, but after listening to staff, Zendesk announced that it was becoming a ‘digital first’ company in June 2022, with emphasis on allowing staff to be fully remote if they choose.

The benefits are compelling too. Staff are reimbursed for home office equipment and internet, have access to shared office facilities should they need it, such as WeWork, and also get an additional day a month off as part of ‘Recharge Fridays’.

5. Remote

It’s probably a no-brainer that if you call your company Remote, you’re going to let your staff work remotely. As it turns out, this is actually the case for this talent company that helps companies employ staff globally, as well as providing other associated services, such as payroll software. Not only that, but the company also offers unlimited PTO as a perk.

6. Dropbox

Dropbox has adopted what it calls a ‘virtual first’ approach to work. Remote working is the norm at the company, though there are opportunities for face to face meetings with teams should they be required.

The company made the move way back in October 2020, and even has it’s own virtual first toolkit for anyone seeking answers on how the company handles remote working.

7. Uber

The nature of Uber’s business model means that the vast majority of those that work for the company simply won’t be able to work remotely (not until we’ve cracked self-driving cars, that is). However, those that have desk-based roles at the firm are free to work remotely half of the time.

The company states that it still believes in in-person collaboration, so those looking for a fully remote position are likely to be disappointed. However, those that are happy to work in the office half the time might appreciate the company’s hybrid policy, where employees can choose to work in the office five days one week, and then none the next.

8. Disney

If you want to work for the house of mouse, choose your role carefully. Yes, the company does have fully remote positions, but it’s certainly not the norm throughout the company. In fact, on the 9th of January, CEO Bob Iger told staff that they would need to be in the office four days a week going forward. So, before you sign on the dotted line, make sure that the role you’re applying for is actually remote, without caveats.

9. Quora

If you’ve ever Googled a question, chances are you’ve come across Quora, a Q&A platform. And if you ask it ‘can I work from home?’ the answer will be a resounding yes. The company offers many fully remote roles, from product designer to community manager.

10. Toast

Point of sale provider Toast has a generous work from home policy – the company even pays your Wi-Fi costs if you choose to work remotely. The benefits don’t stop there, the company also offers sabbaticals and unlimited vacation, depending on the position.

11. Buffer

Buffer is a social media management platform, which has been fully remote since 2012. As well as allowing staff to work from anywhere, the company also gives individuals an allowance for co-working spaces, and even covers the cost of your coffee if you choose to work out of a cafe

12. FlexJobs

FlexJobs is an organization that helps workers find remote roles, so it makes sense that it practices what it preaches, with the company operating remotely since its inception in 2007. In addition, FlexJobs also has an open holiday policy, and offers employees a stipend for office furniture, tech, snacks and co-working spaces.

13. Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is yet another company that went fully remote during the pandemic, and found it such a success that they have continued with it to this day.

Not only that, but the company has also been experimenting with four day weeks.

14. Hotjar

Unlike many of the companies on this list, web analytics company Hotjar didn’t jump on the remote working train during the pandemic – it had actually always operated as a fully remote employer. The company has in-person events twice a year.

The company states that hours aren’t monitored, and that staff are trusted to work manage their own workloads, although it does recommend that everyone is around during ‘core hours’, 2pm to 5pm CET.

15. Reddit

The social media platform was quick to set its remote working policy in stone, just six months into the pandemic. Essentially, the company is happy for you to work from anywhere, at home, in the office, or anywhere in between.

16. Intuit

Intuit is another firm which found its pivot to remote working accelerated by the pandemic. In an internal survey, the company discovered that 90% of its staff appreciated not having to commute, and just 6% wanted to be in the office full time. Because of this, it developed a flexible remote work policy that has stayed in place, post pandemic.

17. Skillshare

Skillshare a very generous remote work policy. Not only do you get to work from the comfort of your own home, the company will also pay for your internet, and you can also be reimbursed for your tea/coffee spend (up to $25 per month).

Skillshare employees also have unlimited vacation time, and if you have a day where you crave the office environment, Skillshare gives its workers budget to work at a shared office with Industrious Co-Working.

18. Adobe

Adobe is another company that made the shift to hybrid working during the pandemic. In 2021 the company announced that the shift to a remote-friendly model was to become permanent, although there is still a degree of flexibility at the company, and anyone who works better at the office is welcome to work there instead. The company offers both 100% remote roles, as well as hybrid.

19. GoTo

It’s perhaps not too surprising that the software company behind remote access products such as GoToMyPC and GoTo Meeting is remote first, with employees able to work from home. It also has an unlimited PTO policy.

20. Cisco

Another company that switched to remote working during the pandemic and never looked back, Cisco told its staff back in 2021 that they would never have to return to the office. The option is still there for those that want it, but the company continues to operate a very generous work from home policy.

21. Shopify

Shopify is very open to remote workers – in fact it actively encourages them. On the companies recruiting page it makes clear that it promotes flexible working for the mental wellbeing of its employees.

In addition, Shopify is happy for staff to work abroad for 90 days of the year, as part of its Destination90 program.

22. Revolut

Fintech company Revolut revealed in early 2021 that it was moving to a permanent remote working set up. In addition, the firm is happy for staff to work abroad, 60 days a year.

23. Spotify

It must have been music to employees’ ears when Spotify told its 6,000+ strong workforce that they were free to work from home or in the office should they choose. The choice is really up to the individual.

The company stated that it was looking to maintain the “perfect balance of flexibility, employment security, and job fulfilment.”

Companies That Don’t Offer Remote Jobs From Home

Before you get too cozy in your pajamas, beware. There are some companies that aren’t too keen on the idea of employees working from home. If you want a remote job, you’re going to want to avoid these.

Meta

In June 2021, Meta told staff that its remote working policy was a success, and that staff were free to work from home forever.

It seems that in Mark Zuckerberg’s mind, ‘forever’ is about two years, as in June 2023, the company announced that come September, staff were expected to spend at least three days a week in the office.

Twitter

Twitter was one of the first major tech companies to give the thumbs up to working from home during the pandemic. Staff could work wherever they felt “most productive and creative.”

All that changed recently when Elon Musk purchased the company. Not only did he fire half the company in his first week – those that were left were told to return to the office.

Musk is very vocal on his distaste for remote working, so if you want to work from home, steer well clear of any company that he is attached to.

Tesla

It’s Musk again. If you’ve ever thought of becoming part of Elon’s empire, then you might need to get your shoes on and leave the house. Musk has fiercely fought against the hybrid working trend, to the point where he demanded that Tesla staff who want to work remotely must be in the office at least 40 hours per week. Those that didn’t were told to depart Tesla.

In fact, back in July the company began tracking staff attendance, with those that don’t turn up receiving automated emails shaming them.

Apple

In stark contract with rival Microsoft, Apple has been feuding with its staff publicly in 2022, trying to get them back into the office. It has had several false starts and is currently demanding that Apple employees return to the office for a mandatory three days a week.

However, the employees aren’t onboard. Forming a group named Apple Together, they have campaigned for more flexible working arrangements and been very vocal in its criticism of management.

It looks like Apple CEO Tim Cook has a fight on his hands, but if you’re committed to being fully remote, we’d suggest waiting this one out before you submit your resume to Apple.

Google

Unlike Apple and Tesla, Google might let you work from home, but you’d be the exception. Much like Apple, the company has struggled to get its staff back to the office. Having previously mandated a three-day office week, which fell flat, the company relented slightly and softened its stance.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company would allow 20% of its workforce to be fully remote, with 60% in the office a “few days a week,” and the other 20% working in new locations.

So technically yes, your new Google job might allow you to work from home, but you’ll be one of the lucky ones. There might also be fewer Google jobs around in the near future, with the company issuing cuts and tightening the purse strings.

Amazon

In September 2022, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that there were no plans to return to the office, stating: “I don’t really believe that we’re going to end up coming back to the office.”

It’s probably something of a shock to his staff then, that in February 2023, Jassy demanded staff be in the office at least three days a week.

Activision Blizzard

Despite being behind some of the biggest names in gaming, such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, getting a job with Activison Blizzard might not be all fun and games. The company, which is currently being acquired by Microsoft, has recently announced an end to its fully remote work policy. Starting from 10th April, all staff must be in the office at least three days a week.

Snap

Much like Twitter, Snap used to have a very generous remote working policy. In fact, it was one of the companies that embraced this new style of working early in the pandemic.

However, those days appear to be over now, with CEO Evan Spiegel telling staff that from February 2023, they need to be in the office 80% of the time. If you want to work remotely, don’t apply to Snap. If you currently work there, start looking around.

IBM

IBM recently ordered staff to return to the office for at least three days a week, if they are located within 50 miles of the office. The news came as a shock to some employees, with less than a week’s notice given to staff.

Top Remote Jobs and Industries

There’s no doubt that remote jobs are increasingly common, with tech advances in recent years meaning that your office can literally be anywhere. While lots of companies offer remote jobs, there are certain fields and roles where it’s more common to be able to work from home. Research from FlexJobs, a recruitment site, identified industries most likely to offer remote jobs:

1. Computer & IT
2. Marketing
3. Accounting & Finance
4. Project Management
5. Medical & Health
6. HR & Recruiting
7. Customer Service 

Within these industries, it also revealed the top ten job titles posted:

1. Accountant
2. Executive Assistant
3. Customer Service Representative
4. Senior Financial Analyst
5. Recruiter
6. Project Manager
7. Technical Writer
8. Product Marketing Manager
9. Customer Success Manager
10. Graphic Designer

If you have an interest in any of these fields or roles, chances are good that you’ll be able to find a remote job. If not, don’t despair, there are still plenty of other roles that can feasibly done remotely, or you could always consider retraining.

Already working remotely? Check out our guide to the best remote collaboration tools to help your team stay connected from afar.

Is a Remote Job Right for Me?

At Tech.co, we’ve been writing about remote and hybrid working since way before the pandemic. We also know what we’re talking about — everyone on the team works remotely to some degree. If you’ve never worked remotely, then you might question if you can make it work — we think you can, but there are a few things to consider:

Discipline – With no eyes on you at home, compared to being in an office, you do need to make sure you can work without being distracted. If possible, try to find a space where you can focus and, most importantly, resist that TV remote. One good tip is to dress as if you were going into the office — it helps put you in a better frame of mind than your old pajamas do.

Collaboration – You might think that teamwork is tricky when working remotely, but there are so many tools at your disposal to help aid collaboration. Web conferencing is a key one — tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom allow you to catch up with your team, no matter where you are. Virtual meetings are a slightly different beast to real life ones — read our web conferencing tips to get the most out of your next call.

Security – Offices are very secure environments, locked down by IT departments. This isn’t always the case for those working from home, and the rise in remote working has also seen a rise in cyberattacks. We suggest enlisting the help of a password manager to help keep track of all your passwords securely. A good VPN is also essential if you’re going to be working out of a cafe and using public Wi-Fi.

Working hours – Don’t feel guilty about taking regular breaks. Getting up and stretching your legs for 10 minutes can have great regenerative effects. Remember also to set a time to log off. With a nonexistent commute and your work always at your fingertips, you might be tempted to work later. Try and resist blurring the line between your work and personal life with a clear set work pattern, and let coworkers know when you’ll be signing off for the day.

It’s also important to be wary of scams when looking for a remote job. Fraudsters have been using the remote work boom to falsely make job offers, and then defraud the victims. Read our guide on ways to avoid remote work scams to recognize the signs.

As the topic of remote working continues to split opinions, Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, has recently ordered workers to return to the office for four days a week, replacing its three-day in-person policy that’s been in place since 2021.

The reversal will require Disney staffers to report to their US offices from Monday through to Thursday, in a move that bears a striking resemblance to recent marching orders made by companies like Twitter, Tesla, and Uber.

However, while this new policy intents to “benefit the company’s creativity, culture, and employees’ careers”, research suggests the cost of stricter return-to-office mandates could be more than financial.

Disney Brings Workers Back Four Days a Week

Bob Iger, Disney’s current CEO, has just sent out a company-wide memo, announcing that workers are now required to return to the office four days a week.

According to the memo, Disney employees will need to work from the office from Monday through to Thursday, what Iger describes as “targeted” in-office days.

When justifying these stricter measures, Iger — who made a surprise return to the office two months ago — cites the benefits this move would have to the company’s culture and creative processes.

“In a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe and create with peers that comes from being physically together.” – Bob Iger, CEO of Disney

While many business leaders have become champions of the WFH movement in recent years, Iger’s critical stance on remote working is nothing new. In fact, the CEO’s disdain can be traced back to December 2020, when he argued that working away from the office is not optimal for creativity.

But while Disney’s new workplace policies may be stricter than most, Iger’s opinions don’t exist in a vacuum.

Disney Isn’t the only Company to U-Turn on Remote Work

Despite remote work proving to be more popular than ever, a number of major US companies have made public announcements to repeal their WFH policies in recent months.

Most notably, after axing Twitter’s workforce by half, Elon Musk ordered a mandatory return to the office for the remaining workers. This represents a sharp 180 from a company that formerly told its employees they could work from home “forever,” as long as it was where they felt the most “productive and creative.”

The billionaire rolled out a similar policy at Tesla last year, before being exposed for not having enough room or resources to accommodate a full-time return to the office.

More recently, Uber’s CEO introduced the idea of ‘anchor days’ in October 2022, while Snap is implementing an 80% return to the office, set to begin at the end of February this year.

With 2023 expected to be a challenging time for businesses of all sizes, it’s no wonder that business leaders are making radical decisions. But, with the stakes proving to be higher than ever, are these policy reversals guided by research, or misunderstandings around workplace productivity?

Why the Mandatory Return to the Office Is Flawed

Working in an office does have tangible benefits, from improving collaboration to helping employees carve out clearer work-life boundaries.

Despite this, research suggests that impulsively demanding employees back into the office could actually backfire on businesses in a number of ways.

First, a Stanford University survey of over 5,000 employees revealed that worker efficiency is actually 9% higher among remote workers compared to staffers that were based in a physical office.

What’s more, further research by the employee monitoring software Prodoscore, which evaluated over 105 million data points, concluded that employee productivity actually rose by 5% during the pandemic WFH period.

This isn’t even to mention the clear benefits that flexible working has been shown to have on employee well-being, with flexible workers being shown to have higher levels of job satisfaction and commitment.

In the case of Disney, creativity concerns and issues with virtual collaboration lie at the heart of the policy reversal. But even if the case for productivity wasn’t strong enough, shouldn’t the company famed for building the “happiest place on earth” care a little more about the happiness of its employees?

After serving users for almost ten years, support for Windows 8.1, Microsoft’s serially overlooked operating system, has officially come to an end.

This means that while computers running 8.1 will function, all future technical, software, and security updates will no longer be carried out, leaving remaining users a target for threats like malware and viruses.

If your computer or tablet still runs on 8.1, it’s time to take action. Here are some easy ways to protect your devices from this discontinuation, including upgrading to Windows 10 or 11.

After Ten Years, Support for Windows 8.1 Has Ended

Windows has finally decided to shut the curtain on Windows 8.1, the outmoded operating system that has been serving Microsoft users since its launch in 2013.

This end of support coincides with the launch of Microsoft Edge 109 — the last version of Microsoft Edge that was built to support the dated operating system.

Windows 8.1 default start screen. Source: microsoft.com

What does this mean?

According to an official blog post by Microsoft, computers that run on Windows 8.1 will still function, but the following services will no longer be provided to those who remain on the system:

• Technical support 
• Software updates
• Security updates or fixes 

Critically, important programs like Extended Security Updates (ESU) are being axed too, leaving Windows 8.1 users vulnerable to all sorts of ominous security risks.

In simple terms, Microsoft’s lack of support means that Windows 8.1 users are no longer safe. But if you still remain on the sinking boat rest assured: there are a number of steps you can take to secure your device.

How to Use Your Device Safely 

1. Download Windows 10 and 11

According to Microsoft, if you’re still relying on the outdated operating system the first thing you should do is migrate to Windows 10 or 11. Upgrading your system may come at a premium, but thanks to Microsoft’s relaxed updates policies securing a free upgrade shouldn’t be too hard.

Most Microsoft devices will be fully compatible with these newer releases. However, if your device doesn’t support Windows 10 and 11 you will be required to replace your device with a newer model.

2. Back up your data

If you’re switching to a newer system, it’s always worth backing up the files on your device. While most software updates go completely according to plan, data loss and damage do occur occasionally.

To cover all bases we recommend backing up your data on an external drive or network location. You can select a drive on Windows by selecting Start > Settings > Update & Security > Backup and then > Add a drive.

3. Use antivirus software

While Windows is a notoriously safe operating system, the software family is no stranger to security breaches and zero-day vulnerabilities.

Therefore, if you’re serious about keeping circulating threats like ransomware, malware, and viruses at bay, we would recommend fortifying Windows’ in-house security features with antivirus solutions.

According to our insights team, Bitdefender is the best antivirus software available to small businesses, while Surfshark One is the best option for freelancers, due to its rock-bottom starting price and VPN capabilities.

The market isn’t short of effective tools though, so read our guide to the best antivirus software to discover our top picks.

From “quiet quitting” to “quiet promotions”, 2022 blessed us with an assortment of novel employment concepts.

And according to employment specialists at Gartner, the hushed workplace saga isn’t slowing down just yet, with “quiet hiring” pegged to be the next major employment trend of 2023.

The concept, which describes employers filling in employment gaps without hiring full-time workers, draws many parallels with quiet promotions. However, if executed right, experts believe it could be beneficial to businesses and their workers.

Like its other ‘quiet’ predecessors, we probably should have heard this one coming. But for employers new to the practice, we dissect what the term means, and how it can be used to their advantage.

What is Quiet Hiring?

While we may have entered a new year, businesses are still plagued with many issues that dominated 2022.

Subsequently, as employers contend with skill shortages and increasing financial stresses, a new term has been coined to describe a common emerging response — quiet hiring.

In simple terms, quiet hiring occurs when employers address acute talent shortages by requiring employees to do more than what’s in their job description.

This might sound familiar to quiet promotions, the term which describes workers being lumped with extra responsibilities without receiving financial or professional recognition.

“The talent shortage that we talked about throughout 2022 hasn’t gone away… Every employer still has financial goals to meet — often, ambitious ones.” – Emily Rose McRae, Gartner research expert

However, according to Emily Rose McRae, the head of Gartner’s future of work research team and creator of the phrase, quiet hiring typically responds to temporary needs and can work out positively for both employers and employees when executed well.

As McRae tells CNBC, the phenomenon typically takes two forms; we break these down below.

Internal vs external quiet hiring

While both types of quiet hiring substitute the need to recruit full-time employees, internal quiet hiring takes place when employers juggle roles in-house by asking current workers to take on different assignments or responsibilities, according to McRae.

In contrast, external quiet hiring involves temporarily hiring short-term contractors to tackle skill shortages.

Is Quiet Hiring Quiet Exploitation?

While quiet hiring can present some valid solutions to businesses in a pinch, the trend is quickly gaining a reputation for being a new way to exploit workers.

This is because while burdening workers with extra responsibilities is nothing new, blindsiding workers by temporarily reassigning their job titles can lead them to feel like their needs aren’t prioritized, and that their former role isn’t important.

Quiet hiring can also result in unfair treatment if a worker is assigned tasks that far exceed their former title or don’t align with their current pay grade.

And this doesn’t even take into account the impact the trend could have on worthy candidates that are being snubbed from receiving new opportunities or moving up in their careers.

This being said, while the quiet hiring landscape may be a minefield for employers, it does allow struggling businesses to get by without resorting to brutal survival tactics such as Musk’s infamous “voluntary separation agreements”.

What’s more, there are ways the practice can work out to be mutually beneficial for both parties.

How Employers Can Get Quiet Hiring Right

According to Gartner’s in-house employment expert McRae, in order to execute quite hiring successfully, employers will need to be completely transparent with their workers.

By communicating exactly what this change will mean for them, in addition to explaining why it’s taking place, the potential fallout that could arise from workers being kept in the dark can be avoided.

Business leaders also need to take a proactive approach to upskilling their teams, to make sure they’re equipped with all the skills they need to carry out these new tasks.

“If you’re asking a bunch of people to make this move, you should be able to articulate: What does this mean for them?” Emily Rose McRae, Future of Work lead at Gartner  

Employers should also think about how this move can favor their worker’s professional progress. By leveraging the practice as a way to advance careers and lead to promotions, quiet hiring can act as a win-win.

Finally, it’s important to keep an open mind. Not every member of staff will be up for upheaving their job title. So, to make sure quiet hiring works for your team and not just your bottom line, employers need to respect these workers and meet their needs as much as possible.

89% of businesses that offered voluntary separation agreements in 2022 in an attempt to avoid making more layoffs say they “took their cue” from Twitter chief Elon Musk.

After acquiring the social media platform last year, Elon Musk issued an ultimatum to Twitter’s staff: work longer hours and go “extremely hardcore”, or quit and receive severance pay – also known as a “voluntary separation agreement”.

Layoffs made the headlines on an almost-daily basis throughout 2022, with the tech sector witnessing record numbers of redundancies as the entire global economy suffered. While alternatives like voluntary separation are being explored, it’s unlikely to reverse the trend completely.

Musk: A Turbulent Trendsetter

According to a survey conducted by Resumé Builder, 89% of companies offering voluntary separation in 2022 said they were inspired by Elon Musk’s decision in November of last year to offer a form of such to staff who aren’t prepared to go “extremely hardcore” and do lots of additional work.

Famously, after making the announcement, Musk said employees only had until the end of the day to decide whether they wanted to stay or jump ship. As with much of his behavior at the helm of Twitter, he was widely criticized for the decision, and 1,200 employees resigned following his crassly delivered ultimatum.

Of the 89%, half (50%) admitted they were strongly inspired by the billionaire tech tycoon’s actions, while 39% said they were “somewhat” influenced by him.

Musk has been forced to make additional layoffs since then, but for the companies he inspired, it’s largely been a different story; 95% of businesses report that voluntary separation either was either “somewhat” or “highly” successful in preventing layoffs.

However, 53% of companies say they still need around 20% of their workforce to leave voluntarily to avoid making more staff redundant over the next year.

Voluntary Separation: the New Norm?

Over 95% of companies have admitted they are either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to offer voluntary separation to employees in 2023, in an effort to avoid continually making layoffs, Resumé Builder found.

61% of these businesses say they will offer even more voluntary separation agreements than they did this year while 49% of businesses that were yet to offer voluntary separation said they were likely to start offering agreements in 2023.

The hope for many executives is that employees already “quiet quitting” and doing the bare minimum that they’re contracted to do will simultaneously be most inclined to leave and least likely to be missed by the business.

The Downsides of Voluntary Separation

Although 90% of businesses said that voluntary separation will help them reduce costs, there is some fear that the practice could ultimately turn out to be counterproductive for companies.

68% of those who answered the survey admitted they worry that offering voluntary separation agreements will lead to the company losing its best employees.

If you give employees monetary incentives to leave their jobs, there will always be a proportion that takes you up on that offer. However, you’ll have to have to consider the effect making a string of layoffs will inevitably have on the morale of existing employees.

For tens of thousands of companies struggling in the current economic climate, 2023 will be full of difficult decisions like this. Whether turning to Elon Musk for direction again is a good idea, however, is certainly questionable.

Microsoft Teams is starting the new year off with some fun updates, as the team collaboration platform is reportedly adding even more video filters to its conferencing tools.

It’s no secret that Microsoft Teams is constantly updating its platform. Just last year, the company launched a wide range of Microsoft Teams updates to improve the experience of the newly hybrid workers that have setup at home since the start of the pandemic.

This year is no different, as Microsoft Teams is hitting the ground running with some fun updates that will make your meetings a bit more entertaining.

Video Filters in Microsoft Teams Meetings

According to the Microsoft 365 roadmap, which provides an insight into the updating coming to the platform, Microsoft Teams will be adding fun video filters that can alter the apperance of attendees or their backgrounds during meetings.

“Video filters allow participants in Teams Meetings to augment their video stream with visual effects. The effects are provided by app developers on Teams Platform.” – Microsoft 365 roadmap entry

As noted in the Microsoft 365 roadmap entry, the filters will be created by app developers, so it’s safe to assume there will be plenty to choose from when they go live. The entry states that users can expect the new filters around February of this year.

Video filters like these have become increasingly popular on Zoom, where users have been replacing themselves with potatoes and other fun backgrounds for a while now. The new filters won’t serve much of a practical purpose beyond making work a little fun, which Microsoft Teams is already on top of with features like Games for Work.

Is Microsoft Teams Good for Business?

If your team has gone hybrid in the last few years, capturing that in-office culture can be tough. Some employees may be exclusively working from home, which means team members can feel a bit left out, which is never good for producitivity.

This is where Microsoft Teams really shines. Beyond providing the basic functionality of collaboration platforms, like project management and messaging tools, Microsoft Teams has a lot of fun stuff built in that can capture some of the company culture magic that promotes retention and prevents quiet quitting.

On top of that, it’s constantly being updated, so much so that we’re regularly covering the new features added to Microsoft Teams. Even better, the updates are regularly based on customer feedback, so the platform has quickly turned into a favorite for companies that need to get work done. Plus, with seamless integration with the rest of the Microsoft 365 system, it’s a no-brainer for companies already using services like Outlook.

Find out Microsoft Teams compares to Zoom.

Elon Musk has again made layoffs at Twitter, firing employees who work in a range of teams tasked with moderating content, hate speech, and misinformation on the social media platform. 

In November of last year, Musk said he would not be making any more layoffs at Twitter after firing huge swathes of his new workforce, a promise he has broken on more than one occasion since then.

Twitter’s payroll is now a fraction of the size it was when Musk took over, and the long-term future of the platform is now anything but certain.

Twitter Layoffs Continue

According to Bloomberg, anonymous sources told the publication that Twitter laid off “a dozen people” working at the company’s offices in Singapore and Dublin, who used to be responsible for monitoring and tackling the proliferation of hate speech on the platform.

Elsewhere, senior director of revenue policy Analuisa Dominguez was deemed surplus to requirements, as was recently-hired Asia-Pacific site integrity chief Nur Azhar Bin Ayob.

Workers that dealt with “global appeals” and “state media” have reportedly also been let go by the tech giant. 

Misinformation Policy Makers Axed

Bloomberg also detailed that Twitter has made redundant several members of the team responsible for working on the social media site’s misinformation policy. 

The facilitatory role Twitter plays in public debate and political discourse means preventing fake news from circulating on the platform – and having a sufficiently staffed team to enforce its misinformation policy – is of global importance.  

Whether Elon Musk considers this team a priority to invest in, however, is the only thing dictating its fate in the long run. The way bigotry has thrived on the platform since his takeover (something Musk himself denies) suggests does not bode well for the future of content moderation on Twitter.

Admittedly, among the firings, Twitter has increased staffing in some areas – including the appeals department.

What’s more, Ella Irwin, head of trust and safety at Twitter, has suggested the decision to merge two teams into one, of which the layoffs were a byproduct, was made for organizational efficiency.

Musk: Not a Man of His Word?

Back in November of last year, shortly after Musk took over, the Tesla chief gave his employees an ultimatum – work longer hours and accept a more “hardcore” culture, or pack up and leave. 

However, reporting at the time said he also confirmed there would be no more Twitter layoffs to come after that round of cuts. 

But this isn’t the first time that employees have been cut from Twitter since that pledge was made, with a number of employees in the company’s infrastructure team axed in December. 

The company is now just over a quarter of the size it was when Musk took over, with the 7,500-strong pre-Musk payroll trimmed down to the 2,000 still on the company’s Slack platform.

Twitter: A Rough 2023 Ahead

What more can you say about the situation at Twitter, a social media platform that just seems to get worse and worse by the week, with no real end to the chaos in sight?

The latest installment of this sorry story sees Elon Musk now embroiled in a shareholder lawsuit – which he wants to be moved out of San Francisco on the grounds that the jury couldn’t possibly be impartial considering he’s fired so many people that live in the area. 

What storm lies ahead for the social media platform in 2023 is anyone’s guess – and Elon Musk’s propensity to break his own word means even his own staff will be lucky to get a heads up.

Amazon kicked off 2023 by announcing plans to axe more than 18,000 jobs at once – more than at any time in the company’s 28-year history.

The ecommerce behemoth is currently one of the world’s biggest employers with over 1.5 million people on the company payroll but has evidently decided that it cannot keep all of its current crop in post.

The news suggests that the litany of layoff announcements that sent shockwaves through the tech sector throughout 2022 are likely to continue into 2023, as grim economic conditions continue to force companies of all sizes to make difficult decisions.

Amazon’s Record-Breaking Redundancies

According to reports released earlier today, Amazon plans to cut almost 20,000 jobs from its workforce, confirming the concerning rumors that made their way around the tech sector in mid-December about the company’s plans to axe staff.

The BBC says that the losses will be felt most heavily in the business’s human resources and consumer retail divisions. The countries in which the cuts will take place are yet to be named.

CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement released today that the company has “weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past”, and claimed it would be wrong to expect entities like Amazon to be in “heavy people expansion mode” every single year of its existence.

In the same letter, Jassy says Amazon plans to “support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support”.

Amazon: Thriving or Surviving?

Amazon, like many ecommerce platforms, raked in record profits during the pandemic. Millions of people who would have usually headed down to the store to buy whatever they needed now had no other choice but to find and order it online.

However, as we’ve collectively made our way back to what can be described as “normal” life over the past year and a half, Amazon’s sales have been slowing down.

Since the pandemic, businesses have been less inclined to spend money on advertising, while consumers have reacted to the worsening cost of living crisis by tightening their purse strings.

Amazon is not alone, however, with other tech giants, such as Meta and Salesforce, also announcing significant cuts to their workforce as we head into 2023.

2023 Will be a Difficult Year for Tech

2022 was one of the most difficult years the modern tech industry has ever experienced, with many companies facing even tougher economic challenges than they did during the pandemic.

Over 150,000 layoffs were made in the tech sector throughout 2022, and this announcement from Amazon sadly signals that the trend is likely to spill over into 2023.

With the economy not expected to pick up any time soon, making smart investments in products and services that can make a genuine, tangible difference to your top line is crucial for companies in the tech sector and beyond.

Whether it’s cybersecurity products you need to keep your business safe or apps for managing projects,  ensuring you strike that balance between utility and affordability has never been more important.

Time to update your resume. A total of 153,160 tech employees left their positions across 2022, according to new numbers from watchdog site Layoffs.fyi.

That’s a highest number of tech layoffs and dismissals across the last two decades, and it handily beats the early pandemic spike in 2020.

Layoffs.fyi found a total of over 70,000 tech job losses between March 2020 and December 2020, followed by a dip to just around 15,000 jobs cut across all of 2021. Now, the economy has slowed further, and we can expect the trend to continue in 2023.

2022’s Biggest Losers? Meta and Amazon

Meta tops the list of tech company job losses, with 11,000 jobs cut at once in December 2022. That number accounts for 13% of the Facebook parent company’s total employee base, which is a far more impressive percentage of layoffs than the second-place company, Amazon.

Amazon cut 10,000 jobs with one layoff round in 2022, which adds up to just 3% of the company’s massive employee count.

Other top ax-swinging companies include the Amsterdam-based Bookings.com, which cut 4,375 employees (25% of its workforce), and communications company Cisco, which cut 4,100.

Twitter came into fifth place for jobs cut, with 3,700 — although those employees add up to a full 50% of the social media platform’s workforce.

The Biggest Sectors Hit in 2022? Retail and Consumer

The tech retail industry lost about 19,600 jobs last year, while the consumer tech sector lost about 19,700. That’s in large part because of the biggest companies to institute layoffs. Meta’s contributions accounted for around half of all consumer layoffs, while Amazon accounted for about half of all retail losses.

Other sectors that lost the most positions in 2022 include transporation, finance, and food, in that order.

Healthcare layoffs were up considerably from the 2020 layoff spike, too, with almost 100 healthcare tech companies terminating over 11,100 employees in 2022. Ed-tech businesses cut over 8,000 jobs in 2022 as well, signalling a slowdown in the industry following an early-pandemic boom.

Don’t Panic

All these statistics might sound bad for tech labor, but there’s a silver lining: The large majority of those who are laid off will land another job quickly, with nearly 80% getting a job within three months of layoff, according to some studies.

This is not an absolute historical low point when it comes to tech-world layoffs, either: The 150,000 jobs lost in the past year don’t come close to the dotcom bubble that burst back in 2001, when two million jobs disappeared.

But it is a sign that the tech industry is preparing for a shaky 2023 amid a looming recession. Brush up on your skills, polish up your resume, and hope you don’t join the next wave of tech worker layoffs in the new year. We’ll be right here, continuing to track the latest ups and downs in tech sector jobs across the year.