You’ve been hearing about “The Great Resignation” and how dissatisfied and burned out people are leaving dozens of industries in droves. Meanwhile, there is an utter bloodbath occurring in the tech sector with massive layoffs.
Probably the most infamous company in this staff hemorrhaging is Better.com. They are on their third round of layoffs in 6 months and they are getting absolutely gutted on LinkedIn for their terrible severance practices and policies. One former employee recounted her experience of getting locked out of all of her accounts in the middle of a phone call with a client with no warning from any form of leadership. Her immediate manager was also in the dark.
Other terminated employees echo similar blindsided situations, all this after an infamous Zoom call this past December terminating 900 staff that has been widely criticized. Better has reduced their headcount by half according to several estimates. While their case is particularly egregious, stupendously mismanaged, and a PR free-for-all, they are far from alone in this circling the drain phenomena.
The scope of the carnage comes into focus with resources like Layoffs.fyi which tracks public reports to tabulate information about companies performing layoffs and the number of staff let go.
As of 5pm CST on 5/9/2022.
Anyone who spends any time on LinkedIn or various job boards is also watching the tale unfold in real-time.
So You’re Wondering “Why Now?”
Global venture funding is starting to dip. Venture capital invested in private companies has skyrocketed over the past two years and driven markets world wide. This quarter, investment seems to have cooled a bit, not outpacing last quarter’s fundraising.
Now, it is too early to call it a popped bubble, we are still time and again over numbers logged in 2021, but the market has been over-saturated for a while now with numerous companies taking the boom opportunity to make public debuts.
Whispers of an impending bear market, the federal interest rate hike, and other factors all pointing to a market correction will test the resilience of start-ups in the tech space and other markets. Not all of them will make it. Layoffs are probably going to continue to be pervasive for the next one or two quarters.
Uh-Oh, What Do I Do?
Now is a really good time to make sure you are connecting with your networks, polishing off portfolios and resumes or looking at secondary or tertiary sources of income. Business owners should be keeping their eyes open to talent popping on to the market that is typically tough to find.
I also recommend all parties getting established in different job boards or jobseeker communities like AG’s Remote Digital Jobs Facebook Group, where they vet and compile resources and gather talent for your reference.
