Microsoft lays off employees in several departments
Microsoft is firing employees. In addition to less performing employees, others are also affected. The extent remains unclear.
(Image: Lena Chert/Shutterstock.com)
Microsoft wants to lay off employees across all departments. These include in the areas of security, sales, experience, and devices as well as gaming. It is unclear how many employees will have to go.
Business Insider learned this from a Microsoft spokesperson, among others. The company spokesperson did not specify the exact number of employees affected. However, the redundancies are in addition to the already planned dismissals of employees that Microsoft considers to be underperformers.
Culling the better employees
According to Business Insider, it already came to light last week that Microsoft wants to take a closer look at “underperforming employees” as part of the job cuts. A Microsoft spokesperson told the medium: “At Microsoft, we are focusing on high-performing talent”. Microsoft went on to explain: “We are constantly working to help people learn and grow. But when people don't perform, we take appropriate action”.
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The company went on to explain that positions for underperformers who have been made redundant are generally filled. At the end of June 2024, Microsoft had around 228,000 full-time employees. Microsoft attaches greater importance to performance management, like its competitors, writes Medium. In recent months, managers have evaluated employees up to “Level 80”, one of the highest levels at Microsoft. This also affected the important security department. Even last week, neither Microsoft nor the people involved in the matter provided more detailed figures.
The Microsoft spokesperson has now added that the number of redundancies is small. The first employees received notification of the redundancies in the security department on Tuesday. As Microsoft has made security a top priority, this comes as something of a surprise.
On Wednesday of this week, it became known that Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg also wants to throw “low performers” out of his companies. Zuckerberg wants to ensure Meta's future with only the best-performing employees. Unlike Microsoft, Meta has stated that it intends to lay off five percent of its workforce. The company has around 72,400 employees.
(dmk)
