In one of the tech world’s recent additions to the layoff spree, a big name in the form of PayPal has joined in after the digital payments major announced the sacking of 2000 employees. After making the company’s call public its chief executive asked for showing “Compassion for each other” in such a tough time.
The number of laid-off employees by the company stands at 7% of its total headcount. Dan Schulman, chief executive of Paypal, said: “Change can be difficult – particularly when it includes valued colleagues and friends departing.”
PayPal joins a slew of other technology companies slashing jobs so far this year. Amazon has cut 18,000 jobs, with Google saying that it would trim 12,000 staff. Microsoft has said it will lay off 10,000 workers.
This comes after tech companies’ aggressive hiring during the pandemic, betting on a permanent digital boom. However, as the wider economic slowdown followed, they have been forced to scale back their ambitions.
Schulman while detailing further his announcement said that the staff who are being fired will be treated with the “utmost respect and empathy”. He added he was “confident we will come through… together with compassion for each other”.
At tech companies, morale has been plummeting after the wide-scale layoffs. Reportedly there are plenty of employees who have discovered they have been let go when their corporate login details stop working, or their work passes automatically deactivate.
Schulman has said the company’s values “centre around the fight against any kind of discrimination”. Although the company has come in for criticism by some UK politicians after last year it briefly cut off the payments to free speech campaigner Toby Young, which the company reversed after receiving huge criticism.
The job cuts come after PayPal announced a share buyback programme worth up to $15bn last summer under pressure from activist shareholder Elliott Management. Moreover, the company has also been looking ahead to cut jobs as its share price took a huge hit last year.
Whereas on the other hand, the chipmaker major firm Intel is planning to cut off executive pay as it seeks to save money without making mass redundancies. As per the reports, its chief executive will be taking a 25% pay cut followed by 10% less salary by other top managers.