'Confidence hit, has not sunk in': IITian posts on Twitter after being laid off by Microsoft

IIT alumni Koustuv Saha, used to work as a senior researcher with Microsoft Research in Montreal, Canada till he was recently laid off from the company. He isn't alone in the experience following Microsoft's decision to lay off around 10,000 employees in response to the "macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities".

Microsoft isn't the only big organization to announce the decision to lay off a large percentage of its workforce for similar reasons. Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Spotify, Yahoo, Twitter, and Zoom among several others have all announced their decision to lay off close to 15-20% of their workforce in the past few months.

Saha is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and worked with the Microsoft Research team until he was laid off earlier this month. He shared the layoff news on Twitter and said that "it hasn't quite sunk in" but it has hit his confidence.

"I am laid off from @MSFTResearch MTL. It hasn't quite sunk in, but it has hit my confidence to lose the job I started a little over a year ago after PhD. I loved the people around me. I would have liked to reflect more, but amidst the uncertainties, I need a new job. #opentowork," Saha wrote in a series of tweets.


"I couldn't have asked for better colleagues; I was thankful for the decision that I made. Hopefully, will be able to overcome this situation. ❤️ I will be open to research positions in both academia and the industry," Saha wrote in one of his tweets.

Many employee who have been faced by the sudden onslaught of layoffs, find themselves taking to platform like LinkedIn and Twitter to find new job openings, in a bid to retain their visas. Many Indian faced by this daunting prospect are on a H1B visa and have only a limited amount of time to find a new job before their visa expires. H1B visa users who do not get a new job in 60 days will need to leave the United States and move back to their home country.

Most tech companies that announced layoffs have however extended immigration support. Among these companies, was Google whose CEO Sundar Pichai extended immigration support to impacted employees. The big tech company fired 12000 employees and Pichai took full responsibility for the decision.

Announcing the layoffs, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company will treat employees with "dignity and respect, and act transparently". "We are committed to ensuring all those whose roles are eliminated have our full support during these transitions. U.S.-benefit-eligible employees will receive a variety of benefits, including above-market severance pay, continuing healthcare coverage for six months, continued vesting of stock awards for six months, career transition services, and 60 days' notice prior to termination, regardless of whether such notice is legally required. Benefits for employees outside the U.S. will align with the employment laws in each country," Nadella added.