Microsoft has announced plans to cut a massive 18,000 jobs as the tech giant looks to incorporate the recently acquired Nokia Devices and Services group.
Making the announcement in a company-wide email to all employees, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that the mass redundancies were being made as part of a number of “difficult steps” which will help the company “bring our ambitions to life”.
Having last week outlined plans to create a more strategic driven and productively focused team; Nadella has now told employees that this must be achieved by reducing workforce numbers.
“The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce,” Nadella told employees. “With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year.”
Breaking down where these job cuts will be introduced, the Microsoft CEO announced that staff will be effected in all areas of the business, “both professional and factory workers”. However, most cuts will affect those surrounding the Nokia team.
“Of that total, our work toward synergies and strategic alignment on Nokia Devices and Services is expected to account for about 12,500 jobs,” Nadella said.
With 13,000 jobs to be shed in the first wave of redundancies, Microsoft has said that all staff affected by the cuts will be informed within the next six months.
As well as cutting staff, Nadella has announced that Microsoft will look to consolidate its management layers and redefine the exact responsibilities and targets of each team.
He stated: “First, we will simplify the way we work to drive greater accountability, become more agile and move faster. As part of modernising our engineering processes the expectations we have from each of our disciplines will change.
“The overall result of these changes will be more productive, impactful teams across Microsoft. These changes will affect both the Microsoft workforce and our vendor staff. Each organization is starting at different points and moving at different paces.”
In what is sure to be a difficult time for the company, Nadalla has looked to calm employee discontent.
He said: “My promise to you is that we will go through this process in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible. We will offer severance to all employees impacted by these changes, as well as job transition help in many locations, and everyone can expect to be treated with the respect they deserve for their contributions to this company.”
Nadella’s full statement can be read here.
Read More: Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review
