Is 'silent layoff' the new headache of the tech industry amidst a growing AI influence?

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Is ‘silent layoff’ the new headache of the tech industry amidst a growing AI influence?

Silent layoff is a new form of phenomenon where employees are pressured discreetly to resign from the company under various pretexts.

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June 22, 2024 23:17 IST
Is ‘silent layoff’ the new headache of the tech industry amidst a growing AI influence?
Is ‘silent layoff’ the new headache of the tech industry amidst a growing AI influence?

New Delhi: With the advent of AI, the tech industry has been deeply impacted by staggering layoffs and accentuating job cuts. In 2024 itself in just 6 months nearly 95,000 have already received the pink slip. Although all job cuts are not the result of AI, a majority of the job cuts are predicted due to the advent of AI.

Last year in 2023, there was a whopping increase of 59% of job cuts when compared to the previous year. Tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta have already shown the door to thousands of employers this year. These incessant job cuts are adding to a huge pile of unemployment which is gripping the countries where tech companies are the major employers for such a vast labour force.

Chart: Tech layoffs by industry (retail & consumer especially high in 2022 & 2023, transportation especially high in 2024)

What are ‘silent layoffs’ in the IT sector?

While the Indian IT sector is plagued with huge job cuts, there is a silent killer that is creeping into the Indian IT sector- the phenomenon of “silent layoff”. Silent layoff is a new form of phenomenon where employees are pressured discreetly to resign from the company under various pretexts. Almost all the resignations that are tended towards the company are done without any formal announcements.


Interestingly, the entire process of giving out the resignation is interesting in itself! First, an employee is asked to find a suitable job for themselves within a stipulated time which is usually 30 days. If they fail to find such a position which is suitable to their work domain, the latter may find the pink slip in his/her hand.


This process of ‘silent layoff’ has become cancerous to the tech world. According to a non-profit organisation AIITEU, the number of tech employees who have fallen victim to this reckless form of job cut is nearly 20,000. These alarming rates of layoff raise questions about the applicability of AI in a labour-intensive market but it also sheds light on the structural functionality of these big companies who are looking to churn out more and more profits.

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