According to reports, India’s IT services provider, HCL Technologies has laid off 350 employees globally who were working on its client Microsoft’s news-related products.
The layoffs have affected the employees who were working on its client Microsoft’s news-related products due to tough global market conditions. The lay off were from across geographies including Guatemala, the Philippines, and India.
“Our technology and services vertical continues to see robust growth and is one of the fastest growing segments for us,” an HCL spokesperson said in a statement.
This comes at a time when Indian IT companies are already seeing margin pressure due to inflation and impending recession in markets like the US and Europe, the biggest markets for the sector.
The employees were informed that they have been laid off at a town hall meeting last week. The last day of employment is reportedly September 30 for the laid-off employees. They will be provided severance compensation.
Last month, a report said that at least half of the companies worldwide are planning to lay off people, with most reducing bonuses and rescinding job offers amid the economic downturn.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms is looking to shift more of the work towards Singapore. This will also affect about 600 Accenture workers on Facebook projects.
Meta has slowed down investment pace in the newer projects due to revenue decline.
The development of either layoff or hiring slowdown comes after IT companies, crypto exchanges, and financial firms cut out jobs and slow down the hiring process due to slow global economic growth caused by higher interest rates, and rising inflation.
HCL Technologies joined companies like Snap, Microsoft, Twitter, TikTok, Meta, and Google which have either laid off employees or frozen new hiring.
Microsoft was among the first Big Tech firms to lay off about 1 per cent of its total staff strength of 180,000 in July, followed by 200 more in August. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Nadella called it a part of the realignment exercise.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai also hinted at layoffs to make the company 20 percent leaner/more efficient recently after an internal warning to employees to improve performance.
