By late 2022, it was evident that Microsoft had been pushing GitHub to work alongside its Azure public cloud offering. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2018. On Thursday, CEO Thomas Dohmke informed employees that the company will be reducing its workforce and switching to Remote working. GitHub is the latest casualty in a long line of tech layoffs that started last year.

According to TechCrunch, the tech company will be laying off 10% of its workforce. It also stated that the company had close to 3,000 employees, which means that 300 people will now be looking for new opportunities.

Dohmke’s email to employees mentioned that the company will go Fully Remote and focus on AI-powered tech in the future.

GitHub Layoffs and Cost-Cutting Measures

GitHub’s parent company Microsoft had announced layoffs in January 2023. Close on its heels, GitHub is working to reduce its headcount by 10%.

The company will close all its physical offices and allow staff to work remotely. They will also be implementing other cost cutting measures as the tech world grapples with economic uncertainty and heightened competition. One of the ways in which it will try to reduce costs is by switching to Microsoft Teams from Slack. Refresh times for employee laptop hardware might also be increased from three to four years.

The GitHub CEO also stated the hiring freeze enacted in mid-January will continue to be in effect.

In an internal email to the company, CEO Thomas Dhomke said that he wants the firm to look at opportunities with regards to AI and make the company a “developer-first engineering system for the world of tomorrow”.

GitHub’s decision to go fully remote comes at a time when most tech companies are pushing for a hybrid or in-office style of working. But when trying to cut costs and mental labor, remote working is the easiest solution.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has initiated layoffs across all its companies including Xbox and HoloLens. It is unclear whether this is part of the 10,000 worker layoff or whether it will be counted separately.

Remote Working in tech

Most tech company CEOs want employees to return to the office as it supposedly increases collaboration and speeds up problem-solving.

Giants like Apple and Amazon allow employees to work remotely a few days a week, but have called for in-office attendance. Google, on the other hand, offers fully remote options for some workers but has kept the office open. All these companies, except for Apple, have also conducted layoffs and reduced their workforce by tens of thousands.

A big advocate of in-office working is Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In the past he has mailed employees to let them know that they can either work from office full-time or leave the company. His first order of business after taking over Twitter was ending the remote work option. Musk also ended fully remote options for SpaceX and asked workers to be in office at least 40 hours a week.

Research shows that allowing employees to work remotely saves time and costs, thanks to reduced commute and greater flexibility. However, most corporate CEOs have started changing the fully remote work option provided during the pandemic.

Last year, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Disney CEO Bob Iger also told their employees to work from the office a few days a week.  

In a Gallup poll conducted in August 2022, 34% of respondents said they preferred to work remotely on a full-time basis, while 60% of people preferred a hybrid arrangement. The company estimates that over 70 million US workers can do their jobs remotely. But as market changes and new products disrupt the tech market, worried CEOs are pushing for a hybrid model that leans towards in-office working.

It remains to be seen how these policy changes will affect people. But with multiple layoffs and rising costs, workers might be forced to make peace with the reality of in-office working.

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