Layoffs at Microsoft follow industry lead

Microsoft is casting a wide net in a series of new performance-based layoffs, the company confirmed in early January, resulting in the dismissal of less than 1% of its workforce.

As Business Insider reported, Microsoft’s current round of cuts affected teams in experiences and devices, security, sales, and gaming. These layoffs follow performance-based layoffs in December.

January’s cuts are also targeted at a performance model, Microsoft told CNBC in an email. “At Microsoft, we focus on high-performance talent,” the company said. “We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action.”

Follow the leaders. The move comes alongside layoff announcements from fellow tech giants Amazon and Meta, the latter of whom said they will release up to 5% of their staff. In Amazon and Meta’s case, the cuts are being framed as performance-based layoffs to improve efficiency. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in an internal memo to employees, noted that he expected 2025 would be “an intense year” and that he was acting to ensure that the company was prepared for it.

“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster,” Zuckerberg wrote. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle, with the intention of back filling these roles in 2025.”

Taking care. It’s far from clear if such cuts are a harbinger of industrywide paring. But for those concerned about their positions, Indeed Career Expert Gabrielle Davis told Fortune, it’s useful to keep an eye on “certain red flags or mistakes that can increase the likelihood of an employee being let go.”

“Consistent underperformance and missed KPIs, a lack of effort or engagement, resistance to change or inadaptability, or poor collaboration can all have the potential to put an employee at risk,” Davis said.