HR News - Layoffs at Spotify, Vox Media, Conde Nast, and Pfizer and RTO Declared Dead

This is a weekly roundup of the latest in HR News.

Many companies take stock of their finances at the end of the year, which is why layoffs are too often a part of HR's holiday season. The week after Thanksgiving in the United States has come with one announcement after another about layoffs at popular businesses. While many are using threats or at least mandates to get people back in the office, employees are pushing back. Even the White House has had trouble getting people to return to the office.

Learn the specific details on layoffs and RTO: 

Layoffs at Spotify and More

The tradition of laying off workers in the holiday season continues even after employees reportedly gained leverage in the workforce. A slew of companies, including Spotify, Vox Media, Conde Nast, and Pfizer, announced layoffs in the week after Thanksgiving. Because many executives are reflective and crunch the numbers at the end of the year, they tend to make job cuts around the holidays. 

Despite adding other sectors to the company, Spotify could not consistently turn profit, according to The New York Times. Therefore, it announced the layoffs of about 1,500 people in the third round of job cuts for 2023. This is the largest round, following 200 job cuts in June and about 600 in January. 

In the last week, Vox announced another 20 people would be let go in its second round of layoffs, while Conde Nast said it would lay off about 5% of its staff over the next few months, according to the Guardian. 

Lower-than-expected sales of the COVID-19 vaccine has led to Pfizer making job cuts as part of its plan to cut $3.5 billion, according to the Hartford Courant. All these stories point to the fact that the holiday season is not all tinsel and joy for everyone. 

RTO Troubles

Nick Bloom, workplace thought leader and Economics Professor at Stanford University, recently declared RTO dead. CNBC explained that the reason for this declaration is the number of people being called back to the office has flatlined. 

"The share of paid work-from-home days has been 'totally flat' this year, hovering around 28%, said Bloom in an interview with CNBC. That’s still four times greater than the 7% pre-pandemic level. The U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey shows a similar trend, he said."

In the meantime, the largest employer in the United States, the federal government, is pushing for employees to get back in the office. Axios reported that around 200,000 federal workers have failed to return to the office, so the economy of D.C. is suffering. Because only half of Cabinet agencies have committed to the RTO mandate, the White House is far from fulfilling its RTO goal for January.

HR Exchange Network Talking Lots on LinkedIn

Let us know what you think. Is RTO dead? Or join one of our other conversations on LinkedIn. In the last week, a story by HR Thought Leader Michael Arena and a Q&A with People Analytics Expert Cole Napper have garnered much engagement for our community. Start talking to us! 

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