On the same day it delivered the release candidate of its popular upcoming
operating system to the public, Microsoft on May 5 announced the second round
of layoffs—impacting 3,000 workers this time—which the company started in
January.
Microsoft announced in January that it would cut up to 5,000 positions and
began layoffs that cut away more than 1,000 positions from the software giant's
work force.
An e-mail from Microsoft
CEO Steve Ballmer to Microsoft employees laid out the story of the layoffs.
Ballmer said the layoffs will affect Microsoft workers in the United
States, but also abroad.
Said Ballmer in the e-mail:
"With this announcement, we are mostly but not all done with the planned
5,000 job eliminations by June 2010. We are moving quickly to reach this target
in response to consistent feedback from our people and business groups that
it’s important to make decisions and reduce uncertainty for employees as
quickly as possible, and so that organizations can concentrate their efforts
and resources on strategic objectives."
Moreover, Ballmer made plain that more layoffs could be in the making:
"As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of
the economic downturn on the company and if necessary, take further actions on
our cost structure including additional job eliminations."
Microsoft, like many other technology companies in this recession, has been
under increased pressure to continue to cut costs. However, despite Ballmer's
mention that additional job cuts may be necessary, it is not clear whether or
how many more cuts Microsoft will make above the 5,000 positions the company
forecast in January.
IT Management News & Reviews 
