Restaurants, grocery stores, automobiles, electronics, and gas. These are just five of the most affected industries and sectors of the economy, thanks to the huge inflation wave that hit the U.S. and other countries around the world after the pandemic. Many people in these sectors have lost their jobs in the past few years and new losses are being reported daily.

The current cost of living in the United States of America and countries around the world is unbearable for many people. Not only are citizens feeling the impact, but businesses are also suffering losses and making hard choices to keep themselves in the market. The most common ‘solution’ is for businesses to cut jobs in order to see money, and Siemens Gamesa, the wind turbine division of Siemens Energy, is following that route by cutting over 4,000 jobs soon. 

From 2023 to 2024, people have noticed a growing trend that has seen big companies cutting hundreds or, sometimes, thousands of jobs suddenly. While some of these companies have cited growth, restructuring, or expansion as their major reasons, many other companies have attributed their lay-offs to the huge inflation surge since 2020. Therefore, these employees are being let go regardless of their performance or job contracts. 

Another major reason these big companies are letting so many people go is the digitalization of jobs. Many of these companies are seeking to reduce operational costs and adopt new technology that doesn’t require heavy paychecks. Therefore, companies like Google have cut off thousands of employees since the beginning of 2024 to channel those funds to Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

There was a record-high number of layoffs in the U.S. between December 2007 and June 2009, which was termed the Great Recession. However, the number of layoffs in 2024 alone has passed that number by a significant margin. Finance and tech companies are the leading industries in layoffs, but many other sectors have also experienced this downward trend. 

Siemens Energy is the parent company of Siemens Gamesa, a wind turbine division of the company. As one of the leading green and renewable energy companies in the country, it was surprising to many when Siemens Gamesa announced that they were laying off almost 15% of its workforce. This gave an estimated total of 4,100 jobs, but the exact figure and date of layoffs are not known yet

One of the major reasons why the company announced this huge number of layoffs is that they have been having serious quality issues. These issues have caused a huge drop in sales as their order intake for the second quarter of the year dropped to a record-low 75.7%. This led to a reported loss of over $485 million. Last year, there was a similar problem, with a loss of over $405 million.

The company had to notify their staff of the layoffs and did so by handing out letters from the unit’s Chief Executive Officer, Jochen Eickholt. The employees who received these letters were shocked as they never saw this coming and thought they had job security. However, the letter explained to them that they weren’t being laid off due to poor performance but organizational and managerial issues. 

The parent company, Siemens Energy, also announced that Gamesa was going to be undergoing a loud of restructuring over the next few months that will see a lot of job adjustments as well. After this wave of layoffs, the company hopes to keep its job space relatively constant with no hopes for further cuts. They also hope to move most of these people to other areas of the country to prevent a total loss of jobs. 

The junior staff at Gamesa are not the only ones affected by these layoffs. In fact, it is a company-wide process that has affected even the CEO, Jochen Eickholt. He will be stepping down from his position in July 2024, and his replacement has already been named. Vinod Phillip, who is currently the head of global functions for Siemens Energy, will take over his position. 

However, Siemens Gamesa has not yet announced the exact jobs that will be lost due to the fact that their company’s shareholders are still deliberating. They will decide on the best course of action and will also decide how they can share the people who lost their jobs to other positions in the company. They also hope to hire some new recruits for other parts of the company. 

Additionally, it is important to note that all these 4,100 cuts are not happening in the U.S. alone. As a global brand, they have many branches around the world, and these cuts will be happening in several countries. In Denmark, 550 jobs will reportedly be affected by the layoffs. In Spain and Germany, 430 and 370 jobs will be affected. However, these numbers are not precise, and the company can advise to change things later on. 

The fact that things can change and even the company is not yet sure of what the end result may look like has caused a lot of worry for their employees all over the world. However, the company plans to conduct these layoffs humanely by speaking to every single employee who will be affected. This way, they can also determine if they can be moved to other areas in the company or different locations around the world.