Bloomberg Línea — This week, Tesla Inc. (TSLA) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX) reported mass redundancies, amid a concerning scenario for tech workers worldwide. Nearly 2,000 people that worked for tech companies and startups in Brazil have been laid off in the past three months, according to the website Layoffsbrasil.com, which compiles spreadsheets of people who are laid off and post the news on LinkedIn. However, companies such as Revolut and Cloudwalk said they are taking advantage of the layoff spree to bring new talent onboard.
Recently, Loggi CEO Fabien Mendez told Bloomberg Línea that there will be no lack of job offerings for those people with proper skills. But even leading companies like Prosus-backed iFood, controlled by Movile holding in Brazil, cut staff this week. It said it is “restructuring some areas, in search of greater efficiency and focus for its business.”
“Unfortunately, the prioritization and review process has led to the dismissal of some people and the slowing down of new hires. If before our recruitment team brought more than 200 people a month to the company, today that number has halved.”
Yet, the on-demand delivery company said it continues to search the market for tech and commercial professionals, and today has more than 100 positions available in these areas.
Twitter Inc. (TWTR) told Bloomberg Línea that it is being intentional about its teams, hiring, and costs globally to ensure they are operating responsibly and maintaining a healthy business.
“As we shared with employees in May, Twitter has paused most hiring and backfills, except for business-critical roles,” the social media company said in a statement.
Bloomberg Línea has learned that even early-stage startups that recently fundraised in Brazil are deploying a hiring freeze policy, as employees are fearing layoffs.
CB Insights data point to a spike in articles that mention a “hiring freeze” in June. The last time that happened was in April 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But employees at unicorns and startups in Brazil that were laid off in the past weeks said early-stage startups are the ones with most of the job offerings now.
Some of these terminated employees in Brazil are already being hired by other tech companies, as there are ones still hiring, and promoting. Google, for instance, is opening more job vacancies.
Anna Piñol, principal at NFX, a San Francisco-based VC, told Bloomberg Línea that some companies are trying to extend the period without the need for fundraising because there’s a lot of uncertainty about how long this crisis is going to last.
“It’s good for new startups, as long as the ecosystem keeps bringing new startups, Seed-stage continues to be a place where some money is flowing, a lot of these people will find a new job in a new startup or become an entrepreneur,” Piñol said.
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