Layoffs 2023: Waymo, General Motors, Citigroup and others fire employees
The year 2022 was a benchmark in terms of layoffs. However, 2023 is already nearing that record, and we're barely three months into the year. Unlike 2022, this year has affected companies across sectors, including finance, tech, and automotive. The latest to join the layoff spree are Citigroup, General Motors, Alphabet's Waymo, Yellow.ai, and Thoughtworks.
Why does this story matter?
The march of layoffs continues to the tune of human damage it causes. It seems no one can put a break to this. Companies have a single mantra in the current economic climate - cut costs. Unfortunately, layoffs are an easy way to achieve that. With macroeconomic headwinds showing no signs of slowing down, we are not through with this phase of layoffs.
Citigroup is laying off below 1% of its workforce
The layoff fever has hit Wall Street as well. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley recently cut jobs. Now, Citigroup has joined them. The banking giant is cutting less than 1% of its workforce. The layoffs won't affect its remediation team, which is working on a consent order. Affected divisions include investment banking, mortgage, and operations and technology.
General Motors is cutting around 500 jobs
In an effort to cut costs and streamline operations, American automaker General Motors has decided to fire about 500 employees. The company plans to reduce its costs by $2 billion. The layoffs affect employees across various divisions, the company said. The move, however, comes as a surprise as the company's CEO said a month ago that it wasn't planning any job cuts.
Alphabet's Waymo cuts jobs for the second time
Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving technology unit, has announced its second round of job cuts this year. The company fired 137 employees, bringing the total to 8% of its workforce. The company said layoffs are part of an organizational restructuring. The cuts mainly affected the engineering division. The firm is now focusing on the commercialization of self-driving technology.
Yellow.ai fired 15% of its employees
Conversational AI start-up Yellow.ai has joined the list of start-ups to be hit by the layoff wave. The company announced that it laid off 15% of its workforce between November and January. The start-up attributed layoffs to receding tailwinds and a shift in the market due to macroeconomic conditions. Impacted employees were offered severance benefits, career support, and health benefits, among others.
Thoughtworks terminated about 500 roles
Thoughtworks, a Chicago-based software consultancy firm, is another tech company to announce layoffs amid persisting economic uncertainties. The company is cutting 4% of its workforce, or around 500 employees. "We confirm that we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by about four percent globally," it said. The firm has over 12,500 employees across 18 countries.
