Fear grips Indian techies as layoffs claim even star performers

Rahul Sharma (name changed) has been living in a constant state of fear.

The middle-aged software engineer, who works at Google’s Mountain View campus in California, has struggled to wrap his head around why his company decided to cut jobs or how it arrived at the list of people to sack.

“So many permutations and combinations of people got laid off that there was no pattern to it,” says Sharma.

“People who seemed valuable got laid off, but those who are coasting (getting by without doing much) are still in the company. People who got promotions last cycle got laid off. Why did they go after these folks? Was it an algorithm? How did they come up with the list?" he ponders.

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“I could be next, and I am worried about that,” says Sharma, who has worked at the company for over a dozen years. “There is fear that there will be a second round of layoffs."

Google did not respond to DH’s email seeking comment.

Across the Atlantic, Sanjana Nair (name changed), 37, shares a similar plight.

Nair moved to Coventry in the United Kingdom with her husband and two young children in 2021, with hopes of a better future.

But things changed late last year.

“My employer told me to look out for opportunities due to funding issues with the project I was working on,” says the techie, who is on a non-immigrant visa. “There are a lot of openings that fit my role, but it is very hard to get a company that sponsors you. If I do not get a job where I am sponsored, I will need to go back to India,” she explains.

Mass layoffs by Google's parent company Alphabet, as well as Microsoft, Amazon, Twitter, Meta and their peers, have left Indian techies — especially those on non-immigrant visas in the US — worried about their future.

“H1-B professionals will have to leave the country if they do not find a job in 60 days, which is difficult in this market condition. They will be uprooted and so will their families, with children's education getting interrupted,” says Khanderao Kand, the founder of the Global Indian Technology Professionals Association.

Kand, who is also the director of the US-based non-profit group Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies, has been lobbying with policymakers to extend the grace period available to laid-off employees on non-immigrant visas.

Tech companies, which went on a pandemic-induced hiring spree, have been laying off thousands of employees in recent months, citing reasons ranging from lower client spending to global economic uncertainty.

2023 seems set to overtake the previous year in terms of layoffs in the tech world, with 436 companies already laying off 1,22,341 employees since the beginning of the year. Last year, 1,047 tech companies let go of 1,61,061 employees, according to data from the Layoffs.fyi database, as of March 3.

“The layoffs have largely been attributed to three things — an economic downturn, excessive hiring during the Covid-19 lockdown, and inflated cost of new hires over the same period. This being the case, most companies are treating this period as a chance to course-correct,” says Vijay Sivaram, CEO, Quess IT Staffing.

Additionally, many companies incubated projects that have not seen the light of day and have since been shut down, says Sivaram, whose HR firm specialises in the tech sector.

Credit: DH illustration

The copycat effect

The mass layoffs, sluggish hiring and rumours of more job cuts on the anvil are unnerving many.

The layoffs are mostly the result of copycat behaviour by tech giants rather than necessary cost-cutting, according to Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D Dee II Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“Conformity and social influence are powerful drivers of much human behaviour. Layoffs are just one example,” Pfeffer says, adding that “virtually all of the tech layoffs are in companies that are quite financially sound.”

The effects of mass layoffs can be cushioned by better communication, says Chandrasekhar Sripada, Professor of Practice (Organisational Behaviour), Indian School of Business. "Adequate notice, careful planning, personalised engagement with identified employees and continuous transparency can help," he adds.

The implications of mass job cuts are huge. “The short-term consequences for those who are let go are well known — anxiety, worry, dealing with uncertainty and the frantic search for jobs. In the short run, for those who stay, there is a feeling of guilt, survivor anxiety and also lack of agency,” says Neharika Vohra, a professor who teaches organisational behaviour at IIM Ahmedabad. “In the long run, for the organisation, there are deep knowledge and learning losses.”

Job cuts could also dent employee trust. “Layoffs reduce morale and trust – and also discretionary effort among those who remain – thereby, ironically, reducing performance,” Pfeffer adds.

Some of these effects may not last forever. “When times are good and the company pays well, employees go back to seek jobs with them,” says Vohra.

Others worry more about the financial consequences of layoffs. “Living in Silicon Valley, right? You need two incomes to lead a normal middle-class life. So, if I am without a job and just my wife is earning, we cannot survive,” says Google’s Sharma, a green card holder who can live and work permanently in the US, but does not have the right to vote.

Limited options

Many of the Indian techies who have been laid off in the US are not as fortunate as Sharma, as they hold non-immigrant visas such as H1-B and L-1.

H1-B visa holders have to leave the US in 60 days if they get laid off, unless they find another job or manage to get their immigration status changed.

“They have a ticking clock that they have to beat. Without having an extension of time, they are in a very difficult situation to find a job,” says Tahmina Watson, the founding attorney of Watson Immigration Law in Seattle. “How are they going to find another job when all the tech giants and a lot of the tech companies have implemented hiring freezes?”

Watson advises people in that situation to think outside the box. “Try to find a job as quickly as you can, but if you cannot find a job within the 60 days, consider starting your own company,” Watson says. “People can have H1-Bs with their own startups. It is a realistic option for those who can fund a new startup.”

Unlike H1-B visa holders who have the option of moving companies within 60 days, L-1 visa holders cannot do that, she says. L-1 visas are generally available for temporary intracompany transferees who are in managerial positions or have specialised knowledge.

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Non-immigrant visa holders get no real help from the government to cope with their situation if they get laid off, she points out.

“There is not any sort of real support for people,” Watson says.

Layoffs also complicate the situation for Indians who are in the queue for a green card. “When they are in line to get a green card, their spouses also get permission to work. So what happens with a lot of these households is that (with a layoff), they have gone from two incomes to zero incomes immediately. And that means financial stress beyond imagination,” Watson explains.

Also, as green cards are tied to specific positions in a company, an unexpected layoff could derail the applicants’ lives.

“Now, with those jobs gone, those positions have gone. And it means that those green cards are not there anymore,” she explains, and adds: “And if they get another job, what happens to their green cards? Is the other employer even going to file a green card (application)?”

Watson urges the Joe Biden administration to at least double the grace period available to laid-off employees on non-immigrant visas to 120 days.

“We are going to lose the talent if we do not extend the 60 days. Once we lose the talent and they go to Canada or they go to Europe, they will not want to come back here very easily. And when the economy returns, we are going to struggle to find the talent,” she says. “We are really shooting ourselves in the foot by not creating policy changes to address this situation.”

Life after layoff

HR experts advise those who have been laid off to focus on upskilling and networking.

“It is crucial to have a deep understanding of the industry and where it is headed, as well as network with mentors and coaches who can guide the candidate towards the right path,” says Sivaram, who encourages people “to be open to change”.

Yash Agarwal, 25, a Twitter employee who was recently laid off in India, looks at it differently.

What the layoff did was deepen his “conviction” to "save up an insane amount, do not have (just) one source of income and work on multiple things.”

He urges fellow Zoomers – better known as Gen Z – to not put all their eggs in one basket.

“Even while you are in a job, you should always think of contingencies. If you have gotten a job, you could lose it as well. So, it is helpful to constantly build that sense of network and have awareness about your industry,” he tells DH.