Tech company Oracle has announced one of its largest rounds of job cuts in recent years, laying off an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 employees worldwide. Staff in the United States, India, Canada and Latin America were affected, with many receiving the news through early-morning emails.
The scale of the layoffs has sparked debate, not only because of the high numbers, but also because many experienced and highly skilled workers have lost their roles.
Why are long-serving employees being laid off?
Among those affected is Nina Lewis, a senior security professional who had worked at Oracle for more than 33 years, NDTV reported. She lost her job as part of the company’s push towards artificial intelligence on April 1. “After 30+ years at Oracle, I join the 30,000 or so laid off today,” she wrote on LinkedIn. She described the decision as a shock.
Lewis joined Oracle in the early 1990s and built a long career working on database and security systems. In her latest role as a security alert manager, she “translated vulnerabilities into guidance for enterprise clients”. She also worked closely with engineering and security teams during live threat situations. Earlier in her career, she held roles as a senior principal ethical hacker and principal security analyst.
In her post, Lewis suggested that an internal system may have identified certain employees for redundancy. She speculated that senior individual contributors and mid-level managers, particularly those with outstanding stock options, could have been among those targeted.
Are job cuts becoming common across industries?
Oracle’s layoffs are part of a wider trend. Over the past month, several major companies, including Meta, Microsoft, Disney and ASML, have also announced job cuts.
Reports indicate that more than 20,000 jobs have been lost across Meta and Microsoft alone in recent weeks. The trend is not limited to struggling businesses, even profitable companies are reducing staff.
These cuts are happening across sectors such as technology, entertainment and semiconductor manufacturing.
ALSO READ: Oracle Layoffs: Fired employees in India to get paid up to…, company paying Rs 20000 just for…
What role is AI playing in job cuts?
A key factor behind these layoffs is the growing investment in AI. Companies are automating tasks, restructuring teams and aiming to improve efficiency while reducing costs.
As automation increases, the number of employees often decreases. Investors tend to respond positively, as lower wage bills can boost profits and share prices.
Who is most at risk? Juniors or seniors?
Concerns are rising among workers. Hiring has slowed, especially for roles involving routine coding, testing and operations, as AI tools become more capable.
Both junior and senior employees are feeling the impact. Companies are reviewing whether they need highly paid staff, sometimes replacing them with a mix of AI tools and lower-paid workers. At the same time, some entry-level roles are being fully automated, making it harder for graduates to find jobs.
As per NDTV report, Senior software engineer Roushan Singh described the situation, said, “For freshers, the current market is brutal as top MNCs has almost freezed their hiring, currently hiring on a need basics.”
He added, “Mid and senior level engineers are expected to utilise AI in their workflow to improve productivity. Therefore, hiring is limited in both service and product based companies. And higher position like managers, directors, which were earlier considered safe because of the experience they bring to the table, are also affected.”
Dr Poornima Gupta from Great Lakes Institute of Management Gurgaon said, “AI is eroding the bottom layer. Companies now need lesser people. At present, no college can guarantee 100 per cent placement. Therefore, several job aspirants now focus on earning some experience (even with less money) and then working on their own start-up.”
Is this the future of work?
The focus has shifted from cutting costs in difficult times to reshaping businesses for an AI-first future. Oracle’s decision reflects this change, as it invests more in cloud and AI while reducing its workforce.
The result is a clear pattern: more technology, more automation, higher efficiency, and, for now, more job cuts.