Microsoft Announce Massive 18,000 Job Cuts, in Biggest Restructuring

Initiating one of the biggest job cuts in the tech industry, Redmond based software major, Microsoft has announced that it is on course to cut a massive 18,000 jobs from its payrolls. A lion’s share of these cuts, come from the company’s acquisition of Finnish handset maker, Nokia.

In an email statement, Microsoft’s chief Satya Nadella has announced these developments. “Having a clear focus is the start of the journey, not the end. The more difficult steps are creating the organization and culture to bring our ambitions to life. The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year. Of that total, our work toward synergies and strategic alignment on Nokia Devices and Services is expected to account for about 12,500 jobs, comprising both professional and factory workers. We are moving now to start reducing the first 13,000 positions, and the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months. It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we are adding roles in certain other strategic areas. My promise to you is that we will go through this process in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible. We will offer severance to all employees impacted by these changes, as well as job transition help in many locations, and everyone can expect to be treated with the respect they deserve for their contributions to this company,” he explained.

Nadella adds that it is an integral process of integrating the Nokia Devices and Services teams into Microsoft. "We will realize the synergies to which we committed when we announced the acquisition last September. The first-party phone portfolio will align to Microsoft’s strategic direction. To win in the higher price tiers, we will focus on breakthrough innovation that expresses and enlivens Microsoft’s digital work and digital life experiences. In addition, we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps," he adds.

While the process of these layoffs may take upto one year, in a situation like this, it might be difficult for Microsoft to keep up the morale of its employee strength and it would also push employees to immediately start looking out for change and hence spend more time on social and recruitment sites and less on productivity.