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Contact UsThe grim reaper of the recession will slash more jobs at Microsoft, according to a memo from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Tuesday (May 5, 2009). This is round number two of layoffs for Microsoft, which first started ending certain jobs early this year. Now, however, the recession has forced them to do the hard thing-lay off around 5,000 employees over the course of the next 14 months.
Whereas the first round of layoffs affected nearly all U.S. jobs, this next downsizing could be a 50/50 split between international and domestic jobs.
Microsoft is placing the blame squarely at the feet of the Great Recession. The official company statement read: “As part of the plan we announced in January to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, today we are eliminating additional positions across several areas of the company. While job eliminations are always difficult, we are taking these necessary actions in response to the global economic downturn.”
Although jobs are being shed en masse, new jobs are being created, suggesting that Microsoft is still an active player in the global market. No well-managed company gets through the recession successfully by hunkering down and weathering the storm. Microsoft is taking an advantageous look at new business opportunities, and plans to add an additional 2,000 to 3,000 jobs in the next 14 months.
It is, admittedly, oxymoronic to read about massive layoffs in tandem with massive hiring in the same company. However, this is part of the brutal reality of business success, and this is what needs to happen for Microsoft to remain a leader in the tech industry. Currently, the company is hiring support staff in human resources, marketing, advertising, accounting, and even coders. Since some of these are areas in which layoffs are occurring, some critics are calling attention to the fact that Microsoft may be using the recession as a great opportunity to cut excess costs and improve productivity.