Dell Technologies Inc. will eliminate about 6,650 jobs, or five per cent of its global workforce, the company said on Monday, as the PC maker grapples with falling demand and braces for economic uncertainty.
The company joins a raft of U.S. companies ranging from Goldman Sachs to Alphabet Inc. that have announced thousands of job cuts recently to help ride out a demand downturn as consumer and corporate spending shrinks due to high inflation and rising interest rates.
“What we know is market conditions continue to erode with an uncertain future,” co-Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke wrote in a memo to employees. When asked about Canadian jobs, a spokesperson for Dell told Global News in an email the reduction will impact teams across the world, but did not have specific details to share.
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“We have already started these conversations and the (layoff) dates vary based on local laws and regulations. We have nothing additional to add,” they said.
Dell’s moves so far to navigate a challenging economic environment, including pausing external hiring, limiting travel and reducing outside services spending, were “no longer enough”, Clarke said in the memo, which the company made public.
Layoffs in the United States hit a more than two-year high in January as technology firms cut jobs at the second-highest pace on record to brace for a possible recession, a report showed on Thursday.
Dell had about 133,000 employees as of Jan. 28, 2022, of which, about one-third were based in the United States.
The news was first reported by Bloomberg News earlier on Monday.
— with files from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea