Just when we thought that layoffs in the tech industry were over, company giants are once again reducing their numbers. Verizon in particular aims to lay off several employees in its customer service operations.
Verizon's Layoffs
The telecommunications giant held a meeting with customer service workers to inform them of the impending round of layoffs that will be conducted. Verizon framed the move as "restructuring" and "streamlining" its operations.
More than 6,000 employees were present in the meeting, as reported by The Verge. The employees were given a choice between accepting a severance offer, which is two weeks of pay per year of tenure or applying for other roles within the company.
The impacted employees will have until June 7th to either accept the severance or "transition to the next stage" of their careers. Even if the employees choose to apply for a different position, there's no guarantee that they will be hired.
Should an employee decide to opt for a different role, they will have to wait more than two weeks to know if they are offered the job or not. It's unclear whether they can still go for the severance package deal if they fail to secure a job within the company.
Reports say that there are speculations of the company attempting to shift more after-sales service and customer assistance to vendors overseas. The cost-cutting move is likely due to Verizon's latest quarterly earnings.
The telecommunication giant's first quarter report of 2023 shows that its subscriber numbers continue to decline as it lost a whopping 127,000 postpaid customers. If it continues to go at this trajectory, we may expect more layoffs down the road.
Verizon is not the only company within the tech industry that has been conducting layoffs as well. Companies like Disney, Lyft, and Meta have also had to make the difficult decision of reducing their workforce, with some doing it as a cost-cutting measure.
Recent Tech Layoffs
Meta has also been through its second round of layoffs recently, cutting more than 10,000 from its workforce. This follows the first round of layoffs that happened last year in November, which affected 11,000 of the social media giant's employees.
This move is in accordance with Meta's so-called "year of efficiency." The roles affected were from departments like user experience, marketing, engineering, and recruiting, according to CNBC, which was announced by former employees on LinkedIn.
Disney's recent layoffs have also affected thousands of its employees, also for the sake of cutting costs. The entertainment company announced that the workforce reduction would affect around 7,000 employees.
In fact, Disney is not stopping there. It also stated that it will be conducting another round of layoffs sometime this year. Reports say that the subsidiaries like ESPN and Disney Entertainment would be affected the most, as well as the products division.
Upon the return of Bob Iger as the CEO of the company, he proposed that Disney should cut costs by $5.5 billion. One contributing factor could be the loss of subscribers in its streaming service.
