Ericsson Layoffs: 8500 Employees to be Fired, But Will Indian Employees Be Impacted?

Ericsson layoffs have now been announced after global tech giants namely Google, Microsoft, and Meta made similar announcements. According to Reuters, the company will be firing 8500 from across the globe and this decision has been conveyed through a memo. The telecom equipment maker cited “cost-cutting” due to the global economic conditions as the reason for these layoffs.

Ericsson layoffs were announced earlier this week as well, and nearly 1500 job cuts were announced on 21 February 2023. The company has also declared its intent to cut its costs by around $880 million before the end of 2023, and this decision has been taken as there is lower demand for its networks business.

Who Will Be Impacted by Ericsson Layoffs?

Carl Mellander, chief financial officer, Ericsson told Reuters that the company’s cost-cutting measures would include reducing the number of consultants, real estate, and employee headcount. However, there is no official word on the kind of employees who would be impacted or the country that would be affected the most. Mellander also stated that this decision would defer according to the labor laws of the impacted countries, and that they would take the decision unit by unit. 

Will Indian Employees Be Impacted by Ericsson Layoffs?

It seems unlikely that Indian employees will be impacted by Ericsson layoffs at the moment as the company’s network business grew in India as reported in the fourth quarter results. “Our Networks business grew in India on the back of significant market share gains,” said Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson.

Nevertheless, he added that the company was impacted due to lower demands from the North America region. “As anticipated, the growth from share gains in several markets could not fully compensate for reduced operator capex and inventory reductions in other markets, including North America. Gross margin<2> was 44.6% (46.4%), negatively impacted by this business mix shift including a higher share of services sales from large network rollout projects,” he had said.