It’s a common refrain—any job is better than no job. But with every passing crisis, especially the latest round of layoffs in Indonesia’s tech sector, that’s no longer the case. The country’s tech talent is getting increasingly picky about the jobs they’re willing to accept.
“I was a bit panicked. I was going to be without a stable monthly income. On the other hand, if I apply for jobs and get accepted, but the work comes at the cost of my well-being, I wouldn’t take it,” a former employee at edtech startup Zenius told The Ken. They were among the 200 employees the startup let go in late May. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Lummo too laid off 150 people in July, according to data compiled by layoff tracker layoffs.fyi.
Globally, the latest round of layoffs has affected 61,627 people at 439 startups, according to layoffs.fyi. Another layoff tracker, TrueUp, reported a higher figure—551 layoffs at tech companies with 91,362 people affected. June was the peak month in terms of the number of people impacted. One of the biggest layoffs that month was carried out by India’s Byju’s, which let go of over 2,500 employees 2,500 employees Byju’s lays off over 2500 employees across Whitehat Jr and Toppr India Today Read more . About 13% 13% India Times 13% Of Global Layoffs Since April 2022 Were By Indian Startups, Says Report Read more of the recent global tech layoffs since April 2022 took place at Indian startups. (Upon the publication of the story, BYJU’s clarified that it had only let go of less than 500 people—less than 1% of its workforce. Ex-employees have claimed otherwise otherwise NDTV.com Byju's Says Only 500 Job Cuts, Employees Counter And Say Over 1,000 Layoffs Read more .)
While layoffs.fyi has reported numbers only for Zenius and Lummo, those in the industry say the number of those laid off is likely to be in the thousands. A talent directory set up by Ecommurz, a meme account that keeps a close eye on tech developments in the country, has amassed over 1,400 names who have been sacked by at least two dozen companies since late May.
If this were any other time, most of those laid off would be scrambling for jobs right about now. However, a study on talent trends in Indonesia for 2022 by recruitment and headhunter agency Michael Page found that people were waiting for the right job at the right company with the right set of values and culture.
Among those surveyed who were laid off, 40% had been without a job for more than six months.
