In a nutshell: It had lengthy been stated {that a} profession in tech was the final word dream: excessive salaries, safety, and an enormous variety of perks made for some very completely happy employees. However issues look fairly totally different at the moment. The tech world has seen the very best variety of layoffs of any personal sector {industry} this yr; perks have been lower; salaries aren’t growing in keeping with the additional calls for; and there is the fixed spectre of AI.
As parodied within the sensible TV present ‘Silicon Valley’, there was a time when some tech staff had been paid fortunes to do nearly nothing of their jobs. Their enviable scenario was nonetheless being reported a few years in the past, when firms had been flush with money and had employed further employees in the course of the pandemic increase.
Now, we’re confronted with nearly weekly headlines about tech’s huge job cuts. Intel not too long ago confirmed it’s making layoffs that would impression 20,000+ folks. Meta has lower 5% of its workforce in performance-based layoffs, one thing that Microsoft can also be doing.
Then there’s Google, which this yr has provided voluntary exit plans for some employees. General, greater than 50,000 folks from 100 tech firms have been laid off in 2025 to this point.
Past the layoffs, extra tech-industry perks are disappearing. Working from house is turning into a taboo topic as extra companies drag staff again into the workplace: Intel is growing its three-day in-office mandate to 4 days, whereas Google has informed many distant employees to return to bodily places or face termination.
The Wall Road Journal notes that good pay continues to be prevalent amongst Silicon Valley firms, although AI consultants are seeing their wages rise sooner than anybody else. However companies have change into obsessive about delivering the outcomes that Wall Road analysts count on, and a variety of the income they convey in now goes towards AI infrastructure reasonably than common wage boosts.
Workers are additionally anticipated to work longer to remain aggressive – Google co-founder Sergey Brin thinks 60 hours per week is the proper quantity for peak productiveness.
One other drawback is that many companies aren’t filling the empty roles regardless of taking over extra clients, with mundane day-to-day capabilities handed over to AI. The WSJ reviews on an Amazon Net Companies supervisor who says that he needed to return to writing code for the primary time in a decade final yr because the workforce that may usually do it wasn’t obtainable.
The publication reviews on a Meta recruiter who was laid off by the social media big and rehired as a “short-term worker.” It means she does not get any pay will increase, promotions, or inventory, and he or she’s liable for a workload that was unfold out amongst a number of folks.
Productiveness, streamlining, effectivity, and price slicing have gotten the mantras for tech firms, which some say is being spurred by President Trump and Elon Musk’s finances slashing and purging of presidency companies.
The {industry}’s superb perks like almost-unlimited quantity of depart, free merchandise and, within the case of Meta, free laundry and dry cleansing have gone. Even high-quality foods and drinks within the cafes is disappearing as firms look to save cash at each flip.
Will issues enhance? Because the financial system begins to look shakier amid the Trump tariffs and the AI obsession exhibits no indicators of slowing down, it is unlikely that the tech world will return to the shining gentle it as soon as was anytime quickly.
