San Francisco: After a holiday lull, more layoffs are around the corner and several companies across the spectrum, led by tech firms, are set to layoff thousands of employees, starting January.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the US, January is the highest month for layoff and discharges.
"Business leaders want to set up finances for success in 2023. It's a good bet that tech companies that haven't yet laid off employees are carefully considering whether or not to do so," according to J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst for advisory firm Forrester Research.
"It wouldn't be surprising to see more layoffs in the next few weeks," he told Wall Street Journal.
December marks the end of the fiscal year for many companies, making January an ideal month for "organisational realignment and adjustment".
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has warned employees that job cuts are coming in the New Year and headcount reduction will take place in the first half of January.
The investment bank's CEO warned in his annual year-end memo to staff that mass layoffs will begin in the next few weeks, reports The New York Post.
"We are conducting a careful review and while discussions are still ongoing, we anticipate our headcount reduction will take place in the first half of January," Solomon said.
Google and Amazon are set to lay off thousands of employees in early 2023.
Google is already evaluating employees with its performance rating system called Google Reviews and Development (GRAD).
Under the new system, Google is expected to lay off about 6 per cent of full-time employees.
According to The Information, "under the new system, managers have been asked to categorise 6 per cent of employees, or roughly 10,000 people, as low performers in terms of their impact for the business."
Some Google employees are interpreting recent management decisions as warning signs that the company may be planning broader layoffs.
More than 91,000 workers in the US tech sector were laid off in mass job cuts in 2022, according to a Crunchbase tally.