Microsoft To Lose Another 3000 Staff

Microsoft has announced it will lay off 3,000 more workers, on the same day it delivered the release candidate of Windows 7. The annnouncement adds to the 1,200 it has already laid off this year, and moves towards the projected total of 5,000.

Microsoft announced in January that it would cut up to 5,000 positions and began layoffs that cut away more than 1,000 positions from the software giant’s work force. An e-mail from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to employees has set out the story of the layoffs, which will affect workers in the rest of the world, as well as the US.

Said Ballmer in the e-mail:

“With this announcement, we are mostly but not all done with the planned 5,000 job eliminations by June 2010. We are moving quickly to reach this target in response to consistent feedback from our people and business groups that it’s important to make decisions and reduce uncertainty for employees as quickly as possible, and so that organizations can concentrate their efforts and resources on strategic objectives.”

Moreover, Ballmer made plain that more layoffs could be in the making:

“As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure including additional job eliminations.”

Microsoft, like many other technology companies in this recession, has been under increased pressure to continue to cut costs. However, despite Ballmer’s mention that additional job cuts may be necessary, it is not clear whether or how many more cuts Microsoft will make above the 5,000 positions the company forecast in January.