Tech layoffs are grabbing their share of headlines, with DoorDash and crypto exchange Kraken each adding their voices to growing chorus.
But even if companies aren’t cutting jobs per se, they may be reducing other workplace benefits as cost cutting measures, reports VOX.
“Some companies are doing away with eye-rolling perks, like Meta’s free laundry service, while the more mundane among them are stocking crappier snacks and getting rid of free coffee. Others are freezing hiring for new positions and suspending business travel. Many more are taking a much harder look at their software licenses than they did earlier in the pandemic — even as they potentially allow more people to work from home. In other words, more people might get the option to work from home again, but this time they might be stuck with Microsoft Teams even if they prefer Zoom.”
“The biggest way companies are cutting their internet technology spending is through consolidation, according to ETR data, with a third of organizations saying they’re doing so. That typically means looking for multiple software licenses that offer the same technology and getting rid of one of them. In many cases, that decision-making will benefit big tech companies like Microsoft and Google, which throw in lots of different offerings — videoconferencing, chat apps, spreadsheets, documents, productivity management, cloud computing — under one license.”
Real estate downsizing might be most significant in tech, which both is facing the brunt of a potential recession and was more accommodating about remote work in the first place, the article pointed out.