Damn all those "quiet quitters", causing a "Great Resignation"

Summary: The phony narrative wherein only 2 cities are impacted by this month's Microsoft layoffs is seldom disputed; that's the cost of letting the media be captured by corporations (they control coverage about themselves)

ACCORDING to "media" reports, Microsoft "declined to provide the scope of the job cuts." [1] Or a "Microsoft spokesperson declined to specify the number of cuts in the latest round." [2] That's according to writers who work closely with Microsoft and have worked for Microsoft for years if not decades (we know them by name and wrote about them many times before). There are many other examples that show Microsoft utterly refusing to speak about the scale of these layoffs (or how long follow-up layoffs will go on for). Deja vu? Microsoft fired far more than 10,000 people this year, not even counting temps and contractors (borderline "gig workers" in IT).

So the reporting is bunk. Only the numbers from WARN in Washington are cited as if they're the sole heart and core of these layoffs. But we know for a fact it's happening in Europe as well this week and The Register, which is based in the UK, says "Microsoft workers all over the world posting #OpenToWork status notices on LinkedIn within the last few hours from various other US states including Arizona, Texas, Florida, Philadelphia, Illinois, and Michigan, as well as places as far afield as Canada and Denmark". Those aren't in Washington and they don't get counted by the WARN notice. So we know it's something vastly bigger than the "media" cares to acknowledge.

There's clearly a "skills shortage" and "worker shortage" in the United States

One might be cynical and assert that those incoming 3,500+ H1Bs starting in September/October (and can be deported at any time) are part of the plan to bring "value" to shareholders. Workers' security leads to labour bargaining power, even unions. Some people might even get this "dumb" idea that the job is strictly 40 hours a week, including lunch breaks. ⬆

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. [11/7/2023] Microsoft hit with new round of layoffs, months after eliminating 10,000 jobs

   Microsoft later confirmed it to GeekWire, but declined to provide the scope of the job cuts.





2. [10/7/2023] Microsoft to lay off more employees months after letting 10,000 workers go

   A Microsoft spokesperson declined to specify the number of cuts in the latest round. In January, CEO Satya Nadella issued a memo, indicating the company would change its hardware lineup and consolidate leases.





3. [11/7/2023] Microsoft's 10,000 job cuts didn't quite do the trick

   Anecdotally, The Reg noticed Microsoft workers all over the world posting #OpenToWork status notices on LinkedIn within the last few hours from various other US states including Arizona, Texas, Florida, Philadelphia, Illinois, and Michigan, as well as places as far afield as Canada and Denmark. Most appear to be in sales, support, and customer roles.