Big Tech layoffs could have a serious impact on culture, expert says

Leadership expert believes that big tech layoffs could have a serious impact on culture.

There is nothing more harmful to the productivity of a workplace than watching trusted colleagues get escorted out of the building amid a mass reduction in force.

Experts warn that job cuts could damage the very fabric of these once-untouchable highly creative institutions, given the vibe currently playing out in Big Tech.

I think these companies got carried away with overhiring, and they were not careful, and they just hired willy-nilly, and now they are facing huge layoffs, Bill George, former Medtronic CEO and leadership expert, said on Yahoo Finance Live that the impact is going to be on their culture. Salesforce CRM — long a champion of its friendly Ohana employee culture under co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff — said earlier this month it would slash 10% of its workforce and execute select real estate exits and office space reductions.

It followed that news with 10,000 layoffs of its own, as Microsoft MSFT cleaned up its once rough Steve Ballmer-esque culture under CEO Satya Nadella. Amazon AMZN revealed 18,000 layoffs, although its culture has always been survival of the fittest, dating back to founder Jeff Bezos.

In November 2022, Meta META unveiled 10,000 layoffs. In August, Snap SNAP lost 20% of its workforce. Both of these companies were once placed on a pedestal for offering generous employee perks such as high-end free lunches.

Meta recently fired cafeteria workers to save money, a move that may come at the cost of its culture.

George thinks innovation and diversity efforts will be hindered by the tech industry's sweeping layoffs.

I think it's going to be a dose of cold water for a lot of these employees, who will say, ''Maybe this culture is not going to be as great as I thought,'' George added. I think they are going to have a real cultural fallout. You can follow Sozzi on Twitter and LinkedIn.