Recently, we’ve seen many high tech companies announcing hiring freezes and even layoffs. These announcements have been made by a wide range of tech companies, from AWS and Salesforce to Netflix and Uber (and many more).
What do these staffing changes mean for the workers and teams that remain? We’ll discuss how companies can survive a hiring freeze and still tackle key projects and priorities during this time.
So, why are all these companies suddenly implementing hiring freezes, pausing recruitment, or laying off staff? The simplest explanation is that these are natural reactions from conservative management looking to minimize risk during times of economic uncertainty. The broader economy is facing a number of hurdles, including the war between Russia and Ukraine and fears of a looming recession in the US. In the face of challenges like these, it’s normal for corporate C-suites to reign in their expenditures to maintain liquidity and reduce risk.
More specifically, we’ve also seen companies across a wide variety of industries facing inflation and rising costs. Companies seek to preserve their margins in such an environment, and a simple way to do that is to decrease salaried staff.
Obviously, hiring freezes and layoffs affect job-seekers and workers, but they also bring new challenges to the employees who do stay on. Assuming that workload stays relatively stable while staff is decreasing, simple math tells us that remaining employees often must shoulder more work to keep things running smoothly.
This will likely result in a few common headwinds for companies implementing hiring freezes:
Simply put, hiring freezes leave vacancies, and often add workload and new responsibilities for employees.
If your company has downsized or implemented a hiring freeze, this can be hard on everyone internally. Chances are good that your remaining staff are experiencing higher stress and work overload as they work to pick up the pieces.
To ease the chaos around layoffs and hiring freezes, technical writing and documentation can help existing employees work more efficiently, without necessarily adding more full-time resources. These employees and teams can leverage documentation to get up to speed on projects or tasks that might have been impacted by layoffs.
Aside from “getting everything you can out of all you’ve got” by further engaging your existing employees, you can also consider filling any skill gaps with contract workers. The most effective way to do this is with a staffing agency or team who can provide trained, skilled professionals while reducing your company’s labor and compliance risks.
An effective agency provides critical support, such as:
If you need this kind of support, particularly with your technical writing and documentation needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for help.
One of the results of hiring freezes is that remaining staff often face an increased workload. This can be particularly taxing for product engineers and can lead to critical procedures like technical writing and documentation being left unattended to.
If you have a technical writing or documentation project that requires immediate staffing, we’re here to help. We’ll work with you closely every step of the way, to ensure all your needs are addressed.
If you’re facing challenges or need help with any of the above during this time, please fill out the Good Words Project Details Form, and we’ll be in touch with you as soon as possible.