Microsoft recently announced another round of job cuts, impacting 15,000 employees this year. CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged the difficulty of these decisions but framed them as an opportunity for the company to reshape and lead. Microsoft is a technology company that develops, licenses, and supports software products, services, and devices. The company’s cuts reflect a broader trend of businesses reducing staff to boost investor confidence.
In the United States, several CEOs have highlighted workforce reductions to investors. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan noted a significant decrease in staff over the past 15 years, while Wells Fargo’s chief executive Charlie Scharf pointed to consistent headcount reductions achieved through attrition. Intel announced a 15 per cent cut to its global workforce. This trend is driven by factors such as the impact of artificial intelligence, the need to mitigate potential economic headwinds from tariffs, and competition from lean tech start-ups.
Australian companies may soon follow suit, with Morgan Stanley equity strategist Chris Nicol highlighting labour costs as a key theme for the upcoming reporting season. The ASX 200, despite recent performance, faces pressure to demonstrate earnings growth, making cost-cutting measures attractive. Nicol’s analysis identifies companies like Ramsay Health Care, Hub24, and WiseTech Global as being particularly exposed to rising wage costs.
Already, substantial cost-cutting measures have been observed at major Australian employers such as Telstra, Westpac and Fortescue. Rio Tinto has announced productivity campaigns. This shift signals a potential rebalancing of power between capital and labour, with companies prioritising cost efficiency amid a challenging economic environment. Bosses in the US are already making a virtue of shrinking their workforces. Is that trend just weeks away from hitting Australia?
