CFOs intend to continue cutting costs and boosting efficiency in every area possible through 2024 and probably well into 2025. And unfortunately that could mean a wave of layoffs is still to come.
Forty percent of chief executives expect “major” restructuring of their operations within the next 12 to 18 months, according to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Pulse survey of CFOs, CEOs and leaders in finance and technology. Reason: 34% of CEOs specifically say “an average competitor will be out of business within three years if it doesn’t change its business model.”
Previous PwC Pulse polls on the need to reorganize staff composition to remain competitive didn’t score nearly as high in 2021 (30%), 2022 (28%) and 2023 (24%). Then again, this year is the first time PwC polled CEOs for its Pulse survey. In total, 80% execs say keeping turnover low is is a challenge and 32% cite it as a significant challenge.
Investments in AI are a given, but headcount is certain to be on the table for most firms. “The combination of tech spending and [reorganization] may signal that companies are moving beyond headcount cuts of the past and looking for ways to improve worker productivity,” PwC concludes. “This basically equates to doing more with less, but it will likely require continued tech investment to make it possible.”
Taking Stock of All the Tech Layoffs
The mainstream media would prefer to keep the focus on stock market gains in an election year and minimize the widespread loss of full-time, white-collar jobs. Workers in their 40s and older who earned high-five to six-figure salaries are finding it difficult to land similarly paid jobs in this economy. The vast majority of new jobs are part-time and nearly all are going to foreigners.
Perhaps no sector’s been hit harder than tech. Just this year, close to 100,000 workers got the ax — and that’s counting cuts from 300 of the biggest tech firms. Layoffs.fi keeps a running tab of layoffs. About 200,000 tech industry workers lost their jobs in 2023 — so a slowdown isn’t in sight yet.
Tesla just laid off 14,000 employees — a 10% cut — in April from its transportation campus in Austin. Google, Meta (Facebook), Amazon and Microsoft previously conducted 10,000-plus employee purges within the past two years.
