620 tech companies have laid off 184,616 employees so far in 2023 per Layoffs.fyi, up from 164,511 employees in 2022 and we’re not even halfway through the year. The good news is tech layoffs are trending down for now after a peak in January, hopefully we don’t repeat last year’s pattern.
It goes without saying that people who work in tech are scared, or at least feeling less empowered than they were in 2021. Although things are a little safer in accounting, we too have seen layoffs — particularly in consulting — as the red hot job market cools and huge offers begin to dry up. The glory days of The Great Resignation and the fear it instilled in employers are getting smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.
In January, EY Global Chairman and CEO Carmine di Sibio explained that tech layoffs weren’t translating into candidates for the firm to snap up. “We’re not struggling to source talent,” he told Bloomberg at World Economic Forum in Davos. “but it’s not like we’re seeing a rash of talent that’s all of a sudden available.” Why?
Despite widespread layoffs, tech talent hasn’t had a hard time getting back on their feet. 79% of workers recently hired after a tech layoff landed a new job within three months, still others are fueling a new surge of startups consisting of laid off colleagues striking out on their own (Y Combinator saw applications increase by 20 percent in 2022). Said one laid off tech worker who’s now at a startup to Wired: “I just kind of felt this weird sense of relief. The golden handcuffs are off, and I can do whatever I want now.”
Post-layoffs opportunities for tech workers aside, Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi says all the uncertainty is making things much easier for his recruiters. In an interview with Insider last month he said: “It’s actually become easier because of all the tech layoffs, because of the uncertainty the layoffs have caused. It’s getting people to raise their heads who wouldn’t.”
Anyone out there taking calls from Intuit talent acquisition? We’d love to know what they’re offering.
Big Tech employees are so unnerved by mass layoffs that they’re now easier to poach, according to the CEO of software giant Intuit [Insider]
Intuit Salaries [Glassdoor]
