Sadin on Digital episodes explore the fast-changing and high-stakes world of digital business. Wayne Sadin focuses in particular on what CXOs and boards must do to lead their companies successfully into the Digital Age. Today, Wayne and Bob discuss layoffs in the tech industry and look at the actual employee growth numbers for Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and SAP. Wayne talks about the opportunity that firms in “traditional” industries like healthcare, manufacturing, etc. have to hire folks who have been let go from tech—but also cautions that integrating them into a new company requires lots of preparation.
Episode 42 | Big Tech Layoffs and Non-Tech Companies’ Opportunity
The Big Themes:
- What’s really going on with layoffs? Among the six companies Wayne pulled numbers for, five of them actually have had net-positive employee growth over the last several years. But they are letting people go, and Wayne explains why.
- Should non-tech companies hire big-tech engineers? There is a big opportunity here, Wayne says, but execs at non-tech companies have to be very, very careful and thoughtful when preparing to bring these folks onboard.
- What’s the best way to have job security today? As an advisor to three very different groups of job seekers, Wayne has honed his most important advice: Learn new things. Always be curious. And don’t turn down opportunities to learn and do things.
The Big Quote: “This may be the opportunity to shake the tree, to shake the company up and say, What if we had a continuous integration, continuous delivery tool chain? What if we were using more modern tools? … What are we trying to accomplish culturally? And how can this availability of very cutting-edge talent, who might be disciplined differently, fit into our culture?”
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