Layoffs in the technology

The current situation in the world of technology is one of uncertainty and constant change. Many #tech companies are experiencing a decrease in their revenues and are cutting costs, which has resulted in an increase in layoffs in the industry. Although in the past, employment in technology companies used to be considered a secure job, nowadays this is not necessarily true. The demand for human labor has decreased in some areas, and there is increasing pressure on workers to be better and more efficient.

The technology sector:

is one of the most dynamic and fast-moving in terms of change and evolution. It is constantly transforming and developing, just like the capital market. This modifies the plans of #tech companies. The focus is no longer on growth, but rather on profitability.

Investors are increasingly seeking technology companies that can demonstrate their ability to generate sustainable revenues and maintain a competitive advantage in the long term. This means that technology companies must be more aware of the risks and opportunities that arise as technology evolves and markets change. They are feeling the pressure to be more transparent about their strategy and financial results. Investors are demanding more information and accurate data on the performance of technology companies, including information on profitability, growth, and the ability to maintain a competitive advantage.

The increase in global competition:

is playing a significant role in the context of layoffs in the technology sector. With more companies competing for a share of the market, many find it difficult to stay afloat and cut costs by eliminating jobs.

Repeated layoffs shake the stability of full-time employment, leaving a pool of highly skilled talent available to join the freelance remote talent mode. Reconsidering their job security and eager for greater control and flexibility over their time.

Work dynamics are changing as much as this industry

Faced with the massive reduction in personnel that prominent companies are carrying out, different hiring models and opportunities that respond to the concerns and interests of new talent become relevant. In this way, a conglomerate of technology workers is created, available to participate in new projects.

Furthermore, layoffs can also affect the work culture of a technology company. Technology companies often have unique work cultures, based on collaboration, innovation, and teamwork. When a company lays off a large number of employees, it can negatively impact the morale and work culture of the company. The remaining employees may feel less committed or even fearful of being the next to be laid off.

Despite the instability, many niche companies continue to grow and expand. There is a high demand for skilled individuals in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, software development, data analytics, etc.

In this context of accelerated transformation of the technology sector, the constants to face the new labor organization seem to be two: flexibility, remote and asynchronous work.

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The Head of Operations in a company not only is in charge of avoiding and reducing failures that do not add any value to the organization but they also try to optimize processes in order to make them more efficient by means of strategic initiatives. Pablo Zuccarino is the Head of Operations in The Flock and told us about the challenges he takes up and the satisfaction he feels in such a job in a startup, where he is ready to draw up on the blank sheets.

How do you deal with time management and processes of this kind of ground-breaking company which does not have any how-to manual?

Such a good question, as every company is different and the startups in particular do not have any magical recipe for resolving problems. What I often do is to make agreements among teams that let us work in an organized and efficient way. As an agile person, I am always open to change and many times we apply the Lean manufacturing process for continual improvement. In organizations like this one, with such an exponential growth, procedures are hard to organize due to constant change. However, by using continual improvement, we adapt our processes in small pieces to constant change. The most important thing for us all is to be efficient so the changes can be transparent within our procedures for both the Flockers and our customers.

Where do you start from when accelerating processes? How do you focus on a potential problem?

I start by doing an assessment of the place or organization that asks for the process’ improvement. The aim of that need and the expected outcome are established. Then the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) is applied in order to prioritize the needs of improvements that are found and to make changes in the required processes for obtaining the greatest benefit in the shortest time possible.

Can you describe a Head of Operations’ typical day?

Really busy. The Head of Operations is focused on every process functioning, on the project’s follow-up and on guaranteeing a proper service for the clients. But above all, we want to make sure the Flockers know this is the best place to work and that the clients consider us as partners in their developments rather than simple software service providers. It is essential to do a daily follow-up of projects and processes without neglecting the long-term strategic aims.

Which is the greatest challenge when setting your goals?

Within a start-up, every goal is a challenge. There are too many things to do, changes take place very fast and that is the attractive part of short, middle and long-term aims. It is relevant to identify the quick wins that enable us to make quality leaps in our growth. It is also vital to be defiant with the objectives but at the same time being a bit conservative on some occasions. An uncontrolled growth may cause big problems in the processes at the expense of the customer service quality. That’s why our main objective is to grow as fast as possible without giving rise to risk in our service quality.

Which is the most difficult methodology to apply and why?

There are no easy or difficult methodologies to apply. The challenge arises when you work as a change agent in the company you are collaborating with and there is no applied methodology.

It is common that there is some resistance to change and if there are no outcomes or synergy among the teams, it is really hard to generate change opportunities. I used to work as an agile coach for a bank where I worked with a big team and there was a huge resistance to methodological changes.

We agile workers tend to come across as relaxed when you meet with people who are used to working with more traditional methodologies and that generates mistrust. I got really satisfied with the end of the year’s feedback: “This thing about agility gives good results, I didn’t believe it at first but now I see it more organized and we can see the improvements more clearly.”

Which is your slogan when working?

“Have fun”. It is impossible to compete with those who enjoy and love what they do.

I constantly get enormous satisfaction from the work we are doing in The Flock, which is really entertaining. New challenges are continually arising and that make us improve every day.

Why are startups so attractive for remote talents?

Because of the flexibility and constant innovation that most of them offer. Those who work remotely are not comfortable with the idea of office work and like to manage their own time. And startups allow that. People work by objectives that are in general very challenging but they are able to manage their own time and energy. In most cases, the startups offer great challenges related to technology and continual improvement which is important for those who dare to go beyond and face them.

Which are the main challenges of designing processes and establishing them in a remote work enterprise?

Most people who work remotely, either digital nomads or freelancers, usually do asynchronous work. So they adjust their timetable the way they want. The challenge is to synchronize in an efficient way their work with the rest of the team. By means of agile methodologies, specified requirements, repository management and automatic deployment processes it is possible to achieve this even when working from different time zones.

Which is the difference between doing a job in-person in a company and doing it remotely?

In my whole life I have worked in-person, hybrid and remotely. I consider it is completely possible to work remotely and even more efficiently, as you can invest the commuting time in personal tasks, such as going to the gym or picking up your children from school. However, it is also a nice thing to often meet your colleagues to build better relationships within the company.

It is essential to be organized with time management when working remotely. You should follow certain behavior rules and be able to fulfill the established goals. If we are not able to control this, we may be not doing our best to fulfill the goals or we may be going through a burnout due to working 14 hours (which was so common at the beginning of the pandemic, when people were not used to remote work.)

Today’s worldwide trend is remote work, The Flock knows it and it is ready for this increasing way of working.

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Remote work has increased 91% in popularity over the last 10 years. After the Covid19, it has grown and it has accelerated processes that some companies had already started. Within this new working model, many challenges have arisen but they must be turned into chances. Today it is no longer necessary to be from 9 to 6 in an office to develop professionally. The freelance modality allows workers to manage their own time given accomplishing goals or objectives it’s what is really important. Not where or at what time you are working. Given freelance and remote work are growing exponentially the recruiting world is changing too and now ONLINE has become the main way for connecting with new talent. The biggest demanding task in this post-pandemic era is, at the same time, the biggest advantage of remote work. Nowadays all meetings and interviews are virtual and, although that has provided a wide variety of possibilities when recruiting talents because of the access to people all around the world, it has also taken out an essential part of communication, the non-verbal one.

The most significant challenge for organizations is how to make the best talents work in their company when there is such a great offer in similar conditions. What makes The Flock different from the rest is that despite being freelance #flockers that join the team and certain projects, the enterprise culture is above all the employees. There are activities in common in order to gather and meet each other no matter where they are. The Flock is above all a COMMUNITY of talented tech freelancers, where they can access challenging projects globally, self-managing themselves 100% but being also part of a network that supports them and that they can rely on.

The distinctive feature of the Latin-American talent is contained in its DNA

According to the UN, in 2020 remote work was only considered as an option by 3% of the population. Today between 20% and 30% of Latin Americans work this way.

The great difference in all Latin America, not only in the labor market, is that people who are born and live in this region have a more adaptable personality to change. Since childhood, adaptability comes from the culture and the situations experienced in this zone. And that makes them a talent hub for companies outside Latin America. People from this region are brought up in an economically and, in some cases, socially unstable context, which allows them to develop an adaptability and flexibility capacity different from people from the rest of the world.
Doubtlessly, this feature is key when having to work remotely. Currently, the balance between personal life and work is clearer than before the pandemic. Home office stabilizes these two aspects. It is no longer only a “benefit”, workers do not only look for an attractive salary but they consider the offer as a whole. And that involves an equilibrium between work and personal life and a more flexible schedule and conditions.

Today’s workers want to be evaluated for the value they provide and not for the volume. And the question here is how to build confidence in the digital world. Micromanagement (personnel management philosophy that involves the strict supervision of the assigned tasks to employees by the manager or a hierarchical superior) is a waste of time and energy and it generates distrust not only from the leader to their team, but also the other way round and the best results come from teamwork and synergy indeed. It’s the leader who must create that confident relationship so their team can work efficiently and independently without worrying about insignificant matters.

The challenge of retaining talent

Before it was common for a professional to stay the whole career in the same organization but these days it is more frequent for talent to change jobs and enterprises and even to work simultaneously for many of them. This represents an explicit and implicit fact. Both parties are aware of the ‘threats’ within the labor market which can tempt the resource drain. Is this the end of the company’s presence? As stated by Forbes Magazine, the main millennials’ ambitions are 57% travel, 52% being rich, 49% buying a house, 46% having a positive impact on society and 39% raising a family. Therefore, every talent wants to add new experiences, instead of accumulating years of experience. They want to work how, when and where they want. They are no longer interested in a career in a company with rigid hierarchies, they want to work with leaders from whom they can learn, and work on challenging and impactful projects.

So, the question is how to retain talent. In relation to freelance talent digital platforms, the key is to provide support for them so they can focus on their tasks without dealing with matters that are not of their competence. This is what happens in The Flock. Every employee works in the area they love and then the community supports them in order to perform well in their objectives.

Opportunities: the launch pad to success

Despite the labor market is more and more competitive due to the endless chances of online self-learning courses, it is no longer necessary to have university degrees that guarantee the talent’s knowledge. Every talent has something good to offer and the only thing that separates them from success is the chance of showing their abilities and skills. The Flock offers multiple challenges and projects in which each talent can develop without worrying about anything but their work. Clear goals, a supportive community, and the opportunity to start the life you long for.

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