Microsoft Kicks Off New Fiscal Year with Some Layoffs

Microsoft announced a new round of layoffs earlier this week, which occurs at the usual time when the company re-evaluates its priorities. July marks the beginning of Microsoft’s new fiscal year, and the company currently plans to finish it with a higher headcount in June 2023.

“Today we had a small number of role eliminations. Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly,” Microsoft said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. “We will continue to invest in our business and grow headcount overall in the year ahead.”

According to Bloomberg, the layoffs will impact less than 1% of Microsoft’s 180,000 employees across the world. Some of the impacted groups within the company include consulting as well as customer and partner solutions.

Even though the announcement didn’t point out the uncertain economic situation as a reason for the layoffs, there have been some warning signs earlier this year. Back in May, the Redmond giant announced that it was slowing down hiring for its Windows, Office, and Teams groups, with all new hires requiring approval from Executive Vice President Rajesh Jha and his leadership team.

Microsoft isn’t the only major tech company to cut jobs. Twitter reportedly laid off a third of its talent acquisition team recently, while Google also announced in an internal memo that it would slow down hiring for the rest of the year.