Mini-Microsoft, the anonymous employee who for years has called for a “lean and mean” Microsoft, has resurfaced with a new post to accompany the company’s job cuts today, and he has a message for Microsoft’s executives: Don’t drag this thing out.
The big risk, he writes, is the level of “stress and anxiety” over who’s going to be let go, and the resulting impact on morale as employees focus more on who’s leaving and going than on their jobs.
“And guess what: when folks are stressed and gossiping, they are not effectively — er, excuse me, productively (?) — implementing the latest strategy,” he writes. “Physiologically, they have increased cortisol and this time will turn into a fog.”
The comments section on his posts have traditionally been a public water cooler for other Microsoft employees to share their comments anonymously, and that’s happening again in this case, with some employees echoing Mini’s sentiment.
Microsoft is making 18,000 cuts overall, starting with 13,000 today. Beyond that, CEO Satya Nadella said in his email to employees that “the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months.”
Based on my conversations with people at Microsoft today, the company is hoping to roll out the cuts as quickly as possible, recognizing the negative psychological effects.
This was Mini-Microsoft’s first post since Steve Ballmer announced his retirement nearly a year ago.
