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Big Tech firms are firing employees. This is because of various factors. Economic difficulties, new technology, and corporate restructuring are major factors of these continuous layoffs. Firms increased employees very fast during the pandemic. Things are not the same for now. Now companies are reducing employees as demand falters. Increasing inflation and higher interest rates have also forced corporations to manage costs. The easiest way to cut costs is through rigorous layoffs. Moreover, the increasing application of AI is substituting for particular jobs. This is resulting in employee reductions in customer service and marketing. Even if AI cannot take over completely, it has taken away a lot of jobs. Investors are pushing the companies to maximise profitability, leading to additional firings. Restructuring of companies is causing layoffs. While the industry continues to move attention to new technologies, the firms are restructuring in order to remain competitive in the evolving market.
Reasons for tech firms laying off workers?
The February 2025 mass layoffs due to many factors. In addition to increasing interest rates and inflationary forces, doubt regarding the future of the economy has been a concern for many tech companies. All these have been forcing businesses to rethink their budgetary plans. Most businesses have said that economic instability is a main reason for their cost-cutting efforts. Also, most companies are overstaffed due to the pandemic-induced overhiring. Companies have no other option than to reduce unnecessary positions.
Artificial intelligence is an important factor of layoffs in most big tech companies. Most operations carried out by humans, such as customer care, handling data, and creating content, are now automated through AI. Companies have switched to AI. When companies become more focused on AI technology, they restructure their workforce by layingoff. Devices such as ChatGPT have even made companies smaller in terms of strength of employees. Meanwhile, companies are investing money into AI experts. Companies are also feeling economic pressures, along with requirements to increase margins, which lead them to reduce personnel. Though AI is not eliminating all positions, it is transforming the operations of companies and altering the kinds of skills that will be required in the labor force.
Layoffs In February
February is the worst month in the recent six months for tech workers. The layoffs in the tech industry are huge in number. Workday, HP, and Meta were among the companies who laid off their employees. According to layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi, 46 employers laid off 15,994 workers in February. The number of impacted employees increased by 184% in February. This was as a result of an increase in layoffs compared to January. 5641 workers were reportedly laid off by 25 companies last month.
HP cuts more than 2000 positions
As part of its ongoing restructuring plan, IT giant HP stated on February 27 that it would be laying off up to 2,000 employees. According to reports, the corporation has about 58,000 employees in 59 different countries. That is a huge number. With the layoffs the business expects to save $300 million by the end of October 2025. However, it has been stated that the corporation may have to pay roughly $150 million for restructuring. In November 2022, HP launched their "Future Now" reorganisation plan. This aimed to eliminate 7,000 positions. The new round of layoffs would bring the overall number under the plan to nine thousand. Again a huge number. The company expects to save $1.9 billion under the plan, which includes the most recent layoffs.
Meta's Layoffs
According to reports at the beginning of the month, Meta has begun layoffs that may affect approximately 5% of its staff, or 3,600 workers. These layoffs, which have been referred to as "performance-based cuts," started on February 10 and were announced over the course of the next week. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, had told his employees earlier in January that he intended to improve performance management and fire underachievers more quickly. He kept only those employees who worked efficiently. He fired those who were not very efficient.
Other Layoffs
In addition to Meta and HP, a significant portion of the workers at Salesforce, Workday, and Autodesk also received the pink slip. On February 4, it was announced that Salesforce was reorganising to prioritise its AI ambitions. This would result in the loss of 1,000 people across multiple divisions. Agentforce, the company was also hiring a lot of people for sales positions at the time. Workday let go of 1,750 employees, or around 8.5% of its workforce. Autodesk revealed later in February that it would be reducing its workforce by 9%, which would likely affect 1,350 employees.
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