取而代之的是一个以裁员和招聘放缓，增长预期大幅下调，扩张计划被搁置的时代。这种萎靡正在损害员工的士气，影响科技行业吸引人才的能力，并对美国经济增长和创新产生广泛影响。
在长期经济放缓、欧洲激烈冲突、利率和通货膨胀上升以及全球疫情进入第三个年头的背景下，每天都出现了严峻的新商业环境。
科技公司削减开支
社交媒体应用程序Snap于5月23日下调了销售和利润预测，并表示将放缓招聘。次日，网约车公司Lyft表示将裁员并寻求其他成本削减措施。随后，微软公司在几个关键部门停止招聘，货物配送公司Instacart表示将在IPO之前取消招聘计划以降低成本。
特斯拉CEO马斯克在本周四发给特斯拉高管的一封电子邮件中称，公司需要“裁员约10%”。加密货币交易所Coinbase表示，将根据市场状况延长招聘冻结，并取消一些已接受的工作邀请。
亚马逊的业务正受到通胀成本迅速上升的影响。Facebook的母公司Meta正在削减开支，Twitter在马斯克计划收购Twitter之前冻结了招聘，并撤回了一些工作邀请。苹果公司今年4月警告称，本季度营收减少多达80亿美元。
企业雄心受挫，标志着一个行业的氛围发生了转变，这个曾经看似坚不可摧，在更大的经济动荡中为工人和投资者提供保护的行业正在走下坡路。
“裁员”恐惧笼罩硅谷
DA Davidson的技术分析师Tom Forte在谈到科技行业时说：
“它们不再是稳赚不赔的赌注，投资人不确定，因为有许多的事情对他们不利。”
自11月19日创下历史新高以来，纳斯达克综合指数已经下跌了四分之一。
裁员已经开始困扰着硅谷的工作者们。根据招聘交流APP Blind数据，从4月19日到5月19日，关于冻结招聘的讨论比一年前增加了13倍，裁员讨论增加了五倍，而关于经济衰退的讨论增加了50倍。
根据Layoff的数据，自疫情开始以来，超过12.6万名技术人员失去了工作。Netflix上个月表示，在报告用户意外流失后，公司将裁员约150人。自11月中旬以来，这家流媒体巨头的股价已经下跌了71%。
Meta放慢了对公司许多中高级职位的招聘速度，并在4月份减少了对经验有限的工程师的招聘。5月，有关Meta正准备进行一轮解雇的毫无根据的猜测在社交媒体上流传开来，导致创建了#metalayoff主题标签，该标签开始在领英上流行起来，数十名招聘人员和雇主开始使用标签提供替代职位空缺。
Twitter的员工正在为潜在的裁员做准备，因为该公司正在等待新老板马斯克的到来。马斯克曾表示将削减成本，首席执行官Parag Agrawal在5月初向Twitter的7500多名员工发送了一份说明，解释说社交网络将从减少旅行、营销和活动成本开始，并告诉领导者“严格管理你的预算，优先考虑最重要的事情”。
同样，Uber的首席执行官Dara Khosrowshahi在给员工的备忘录中表示，这家公司将“招聘视为一种特权，并会慎重考虑何时何地增加员工人数”。
科技行业远未消亡
科技行业不可战胜的光环可能正在褪去，但硅谷远未消亡。
21世纪初的互联网泡沫一度将科技行业“掐死在摇篮里”，2008年金融危机期间，科技行业也还处于相对起步阶段。而这次的不同之处在于，科技行业已经走向成熟，疫情也强化了许多科技产品的重要性和必要性，为它们提供了一些缓冲，以应对疫情停工之初造成的经济破坏。
研究硅谷及其经济的非营利组织的首席执行官Russell Hancock说：“每个人都发现科技不仅很好，而且不可或缺。” 他补充说，现在发生的事情似乎是市场调整，这对硅谷来说是一种新鲜事物。不过他也担心随着流媒体服务和社交网络等产品越来越实用，科技行业的一些亮点和创新正在消失。
It has been replaced by an era in which layoffs and hiring have slowed, growth expectations have been slashed and expansion plans have been shelved. This malaise is damaging employee morale, affecting the ability of the technology industry to attract talent, and having a wide-ranging impact on US economic growth and innovation.
A grim new business environment emerges every day against the backdrop of a prolonged economic slowdown, fierce conflicts in Europe, rising interest rates and inflation, and the third year of the global epidemic.
科技公司削减开支
Snap, a social media app, cut its sales and profit forecasts on May 23 and said it would slow hiring. The next day, ride-hailing company Lyft said it would lay off staff and seek other cost-cutting measures. Microsoft subsequently stopped hiring in several key departments, and Instacart, a cargo distribution company, said it would cancel recruitment plans ahead of IPO to reduce costs.
Tesla CEO Musk said in an email to Tesla executives on Thursday that the company needed to “cut jobs by about 10 per cent”. Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange, said it would extend the hiring freeze and cancel some accepted job offers depending on market conditions.
Amazon’s business is being affected by rapidly rising inflation costs. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is cutting costs, and Twitter froze hiring and withdrew some job offers before Musk planned to buy Twitter. Apple warned in April that revenue fell by as much as $8 billion in the quarter.
The setback in corporate ambitions marks a shift in the atmosphere of an industry that once seemed indestructible and protected workers and investors from greater economic turmoil.
Fear of layoffs hangs over Silicon Valley
Tom Forte, a technical analyst at DA Davidson, said of the technology industry:
“它们不再是稳赚不赔的赌注，投资人不确定，因为有许多的事情对他们不利。”
Since hitting an all-time high on Nov. 19, the Nasdaq composite index has fallen 1/4.
Layoffs have begun to haunt workers in Silicon Valley. From April 19 to May 19, there was a 13-fold increase in discussions about hiring freezes, a fivefold increase in discussions about layoffs and a 50-fold increase in discussions about the recession, according to the recruitment Exchange APP Blind.
According to Layoff, more than 126000 technicians have lost their jobs since the outbreak began. Netflix said last month that it would cut about 150 jobs after reporting an unexpected loss of users. The streaming giant’s share price has fallen 71% since mid-November.
Meta slowed the recruitment of many middle and senior positions at the company and reduced the recruitment of engineers with limited experience in April. In May, unfounded speculation that Meta was preparing a round of layoffs spread on social media, leading to the creation of the # metalayoff hashtag, which became popular on LinkedIn, and dozens of recruiters and employers began using tags to provide alternative job openings.
Twitter employees are preparing for potential layoffs as the company waits for the arrival of its new boss, Musk. Musk has said he will cut costs, and CEO Parag Agrawal sent a note to more than 7500 Twitter employees in early May explaining that social networks would start by reducing travel, marketing and event costs, and telling leaders to “strictly manage your budget and give priority to the most important things.”
Similarly, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said in a memo to employees that the company “regards recruitment as a privilege and will carefully consider when and where to increase the number of employees”.
The technology industry is far from extinct.
The tech industry’s invincible aura may be fading, but Silicon Valley is far from dead.
The Internet bubble at the beginning of the 21st century once strangled the technology industry in the cradle, and during the 2008 financial crisis, the technology industry was still in its relative infancy. The difference this time is that the technology industry has matured and the epidemic has strengthened the importance and necessity of many technology products, providing them with some buffer against the economic damage caused by the shutdown at the beginning of the epidemic.
“everyone finds that technology is not only good, but also indispensable,” said Russell Hancock, chief executive of a nonprofit that studies Silicon Valley and its economy. ‘what ‘s happening now seems to be a market adjustment, which is new to Silicon Valley,’he added. But he also worries that some of the bright spots and innovations in the technology industry are disappearing as products such as streaming services and social networks become more useful.
Related posts
