The Great Resignation metamorphoses into the Great Layoff

Workplace spirituality has gained importance in recent years.

Rightsizing is the new keyword that seems to be on the minds of all senior industry leaders, especially in the technology sector, which saw much growth due to an exponential increase in online services during the pandemic. Technology leaders misread this situation, projecting continued growth at this pace post-pandemic. However, as people went back to work and things started to return to normal, much of the increased market share in online activities started to reduce and is now only slightly above pre-pandemic levels.

Throughout the Covid period, it has become clear that stock market trends have nothing to do with ground reality. When daily wage workers had to walk back to their hometowns in the scorching summer heat three years ago in March 2020, India’s stock market was reaching new highs. Private corporations, especially large ones, need to be conscious of their public perceptions or end up like Adani, where one public report by a notorious short seller can pull your company down and erode thousands of crores in market cap.

Over the years, spirituality has become an increasingly important aspect of workplace culture. Companies

are recognizing that employees who feel fulfilled and connected to their work and colleagues are more productive and engaged. In addition, many workers are seeking out organisations that align with their personal values and offer a sense of purpose beyond just making a profit.

Workplace spirituality has gained importance in recent years, as companies recognize the benefits of having fulfilled and engaged employees, who tend to be more productive. Research has shown that workplace spirituality can lead to increased job satisfaction, motivation, commitment, and overall performance for both employees and organisations. Additionally, it helps to attract and retain top talent, enhance a company’s reputation, and foster better relationships with customers and stakeholders.

Companies can incorporate spirituality into their workplace culture by creating supportive and inclusive environments, offering employee wellness programs, promoting worklife balance, and celebrating diverse religious and cultural holidays. Aligning business practices with a higher purpose, such as social and environmental responsibility, can also give employees a sense of meaning and purpose in their work.

Workplace spirituality should be inclusive and respectful of differing beliefs and values, avoiding the promotion of any specific religion or ideology. An organisation’s goals, values, ethics, and treatment of people, the environment, and the community can embody spirituality. Research has identified three dimensions of workplace spirituality: meaningful work at the individual level, a sense of community at the group level, and alignment with the organisation’s values and mission at the organisational level.

In line with supporting greater employee collaboration, most global companies have now implemented a “compulsory hybrid model,” where you need to be in the office at your base location 2 to 3 days a week. Tesla pioneered this trend, which was quickly followed by other tech titans and Indian service company behemoths.

Furthermore, companies such as Microsoft and Salesforce announced massive layoffs, though not as drastic as Twitter. Both companies laid off about 10% of their global workforce, primarily in AI and sales and marketing. It is surprising that AI staff would be laid off, but given the failure of Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and the latest debacle of Bing AI post-chatgpt launch, it is not surprising. Covid times had also resulted in compensation distortion as a result of tech companies hiring at an alarming rate, anticipating that the world would undergo a paradigm shift and function in an “only model” going forward. This turned out to be untrue, much like India’s demonetization initiative, which expected India to go cashless. Although, given UPI’S exponential growth over the last 9 years, this move in 2016 may not be viewed as foresight. Ideally, tech companies should have been more conservative in their hiring to avoid having to lay off so many people, especially those on VIAS, which makes searching for an alternate job more immediate and sometimes with as much as 50% pay cuts. Essentially, a tech hiring bubble similar to the dot-com boom of the early 2000s.

Financial companies and Indian service companies were no strangers to this bubble.

Goldman Sachs announced the layoff of 400 employees worldwide. TCS and Infosys followed suit. Because they were the easiest target, one of the tech companies fired 800 freshmen right out of college. Even I, a Goldman intern in 2007, and even a cutthroat company like Goldman, which hires only 0.01% of the best talent, was honoured by job offers for 2008 at the peak of the financial crisis. Then we were inundated with stories on Linkedin about smaller businesses that had never let go of their employees. Although that is a fantastic model, I do not believe it is sustainable in a large corporation where bad behaviour or incompetence must be dealt with appropriately after a certain point.

Everything that goes up must come down, just like the universal laws of physics.