After a relative lull, layoffs are once again occurring in the tech industry. This was made all the more prominent by Cupertino-headquartered Apple’s decision to lay off several employees over the past week.
In what is a surprising decision by the iPhone maker (but mirrored in similar terms by other companies), nearly 100 contract-based recruiters were laid off as the company is reining in its expenses and further restrict its hiring and spending, in accordance to its earlier announcement to slow down the pace of hiring for the rest of the year.
Most of the recruiters who were let go were responsible for bringing in fresh blood, that is, hiring new employees for a behemoth that already has over 15,000 employees.
They will not be leaving empty-handed, however, and the company will be giving them pay and medical benefits for two weeks. The number of terminated recruiters was not restricted to one area or country, and range from Apple’s Texas office to its Singapore one.
The company will continue to retain recruiters who are also full-time employees.
The reason why Apple has decided to lay off over 100 recruiters is a simple one, and it echoes the sentiments that several other companies have made over the past months. The changing business and financial needs of the company have necessitated the layoffs, as the powerhouse is trying to be more “deliberate” in its expenditure while driving investments in other areas.
This came after Apple clocked a YoY increase in operating expenses for the quarter ended June 30, 2022 to amount to $12 billion, while the same for nine months ended June 30 clocked an annual growth to reach $38 million.
Later, Apple CEO Tim Cook said they believed in “investing through the downturn,” and while they will continue to drive recruitment and investments, they would be more “deliberate” about it “in recognition of the realities of the environment.”
This “environment” has painted a similar picture for many companies over the past months. This year, some of the biggest players of the game, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook-parent Meta, Coinbase, and others have laid off several employees as fears of an economic recession rose.
One of the more recent instances is Google’s warning of “blood in the streets” last week. Already having announced its plans to decelerate the rate of hiring and consolidate its operations in July, Google execs reportedly warned its employees last week to work hard and be more productive, or else they will be facing the axe if the earnings results of the third quarter “don’t look up.”
