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How to Leverage LinkedIn’s “Open to Work” + Case Studies

• Effectively Use LinkedIn’s Open to Work
• Benefits and Drawbacks of Open to Work

Case Studies and Success Stories

Open to work faqs.

New opportunities can be hard to come by in some industries due to today’s competitive job market. Even if you’ve pored through the best resume examples and used an AI resume builder to create a stunning job application, if you’re still stuck about where to turn next in your job search process, you might want to consider using LinkedIn’s “open to work” feature.

Labeling your LinkedIn profile as “open to work” has its pros and cons. Some wonder if it will look desperate, others that their current employer might see it.

We can help in your job search process, with our top-notch resume checker and cover letter generator to tips that will boost your social networking efforts. We’ll provide you with all the best practices for using #opentowork on LinkedIn.

How to Effectively Use the LinkedIn “Open to Work” Feature

When you see someone with “open to work” labeled on their LinkedIn profile or #opentowork posts, it’s natural to wonder how you can leverage this feature yourself.

Deploying some best practices can ensure you use the feature successfully. Let’s review how to add the “open to work” label on LinkedIn, remove it when you no longer need it, and tips for a successful post using the hashtag.

In addition to #opentowork, LinkedIn also encourages the use of #opentoopportunities. While #opentowork is specifically used by job seekers to indicate they are looking for new employment, #opentoopportunities broadens the scope to include professionals open to various opportunities such as freelance work, consulting gigs, and collaboration projects. Using both hashtags can enhance your visibility and attract a wider range of opportunities suited to your career goals.

How to add “Open to Work” on LinkedIn

To turn on open to work on LinkedIn, follow these steps:

• On LinkedIn’s homepage, click the “Me” icon with your profile picture at the top right-hand corner.
• Under the dropdown menu that appears, click “View Profile.”
• On your profile page, click the “Open to” button.
• Click “Finding a new job.”
• Input the relevant information for the job you’re seeking, such as the desired job title, location, employment type, and start date.
• Choose whether you’d like anyone on LinkedIn to see your “open to work” label or just job recruiters.
• Hit “Save” at the bottom to add the label to your profile.

Once you complete these steps, the #opentowork green label will appear on your profile picture if you selected the option to allow anyone on LinkedIn to see that you’re open to job offers.

If you select that only job recruiters can see it, you won’t see that green label when you view your profile. However, don’t worry; recruiters will still see it when they view your profile, and you should still find a small label on your profile under the “Open to” button that says you currently have open to work active.

How to remove “Open to Work” on LinkedIn

To turn off open to work on LinkedIn once you’ve found a new job, you can go through the following steps:

• From LinkedIn’s homepage, click the “Me” icon with your profile picture.
• Select “View Profile” under the dropdown that appears.
• You should see a rectangular box labeled “Open to work” under the “Open to” button on your profile.
• Click the pencil icon on that box to edit your open to work settings.
• Click the “Delete” button at the bottom left-hand side of the box that appears.
• Then, under the next box that appears, click “Delete” again to confirm you’re removing the “Open to work” label.
• Refresh your profile page to ensure the label is gone.

How to write an “Open to Work” post on LinkedIn

Posts that use the #opentowork hashtag can also effectively get the attention of job recruiters and others in your professional network. Let’s review some best practices to get the most out of this type of post and look at an example of an “open to work” post on LinkedIn that would be effective.

Tips for posting an “Open to Work” update on LinkedIn

In many ways, formatting your post announcing you’re open to new opportunities on LinkedIn is like writing a short cover letter representing your top skills and experiences. It’s important to clearly present your experiences and what you’re looking for while remaining positive throughout the post to make a great impression on recruiters. Here are some tips to follow:

• Keep it brief: Posts announcing you’re open to work should be around two to three paragraphs or 75-150 words. Including more details than that, can risk losing the reader’s attention as they’re quickly scrolling through their feed.
• Personalize it: You can use templates or examples of successful posts using #opentowork as a guide. However, ensure it’s personalized based on your skills and your desired role. Try to include a specific job title you’re seeking, get specific about what you’ve achieved, and relate to the primary needs of recruiters in your field.
• Add some numbers: When reviewing cover letter templates , you may have noticed that reinforcing your accomplishments with numbers can make a strong impact. You can apply this same strategy in your LinkedIn post by including a few key achievements with metrics to demonstrate your capabilities.
• Include a call to action: What do you want recruiters to do after they read your post? Using a call to action will help guide them through the next steps, such as requesting that they message you on LinkedIn or view your portfolio on your website to learn more about your capabilities.

Sample open to work post for LinkedIn

Here’s an example of a web developer who used these tips to create a successful LinkedIn post announcing they’re open to work. Note the inclusion of the #opentowork and #opentoopportunities hashtags, which signify that they’re also open to collaboration.

Hey everyone! I’m looking for a new role as a lead web developer and would appreciate your support. Here are a few details about my experiences to help you get an idea of where I could fit in:

I’m a web developer with seven years of experience using HTML, CSS, and Javascript to bring pages to life and facilitate an excellent customer experience. In my previous role at Spire, I managed a five-person development team during a UI redesign project where we deployed wireframing to optimize page layouts for 45% higher conversion rates and 50% more return visits.

I’m seeking a management role in my next opportunity, where I can continue applying my leadership skills and finding innovative solutions that boost company performance. If you have any openings or know anyone who might, please message me, and I’d be happy to discuss your current web development and team leadership needs.

#opentowork #opentoopportunities

Benefits and Drawbacks of the “Open to Work” Feature

Having the label that you’re “open to work” on LinkedIn comes with pros and cons. Let’s review both, along with some expert opinions on the topic, to help you decide if the feature is right for you.

Benefits of using “Open to Work”

The biggest reason professionals use the “open to work” label on LinkedIn is that it helps job recruiters find them more easily on the platform.

Many recruiters have immediate job openings they must fill. So, a common filter they’ll apply when searching for relevant candidates is showing those with “open to work” active on their profiles. This ensures they use their limited time effectively by only reaching out to professionals who are actively seeking employment.

Statistics on the “open to work” label show that those who have it active get 20% more messages on LinkedIn than those who don’t. That means if you have this label active on your LinkedIn profile, there’s a much higher chance recruiters will message you, and you could land an opportunity sooner rather than later.

Additionally, saying that you’re open to opportunities shows that you’re willing to collaborate and network with others in your field. Even if company decision-makers don’t have immediate needs, they might still request to connect and learn about your skills to keep you in mind for the future.

This element can be especially beneficial for freelancers or those who run service businesses. Those who are self-employed know that continuous networking is essential to keep new business coming in month over month, so even if it doesn’t bring you new opportunities right away, you never know what could come up in the future.

Even if you’re looking for more traditional work opportunities, growing your professional network never hurts. You never know if you can land side projects that help when you’re in between jobs or get great referrals later as you expand your career.

Drawbacks of using “Open to Work”

One of the biggest concerns professionals have when considering whether to use LinkedIn’s “Open to work” feature is privacy and whether their current employer might see it. After all, appearing dissatisfied with your current job and showing that you’re looking for other opportunities could lead to problems in the workplace.

However, LinkedIn provides a simple setting to counteract this. When setting up the “open to work” label, choose the option where only job recruiters can see that it’s active. That way, if your current employer happens to view your profile, they won’t be aware you have the label turned on.

Additionally, if you’re worried about your employer seeing that you’re open to opportunities, it’s best to avoid posting that you’re looking for new opportunities with the “open to work” hashtag.

The other primary concern with activating “open to work” is that some feel it might make them look desperate. Especially if you’ve been in between jobs for an extended time, some will worry it’ll make you look underqualified for the roles you’re seeking or signify that you have other problems preventing you from getting hired.

The best way to handle this is to ensure you optimize your LinkedIn profile, resume, and cover letters as much as possible. For instance, you could make posts on LinkedIn showcasing side projects you’ve been working on in the meantime using your top skills or make sure you’re adding the right resume skills that represent your capabilities appropriately in the hiring process.

Lastly, one thing to consider when turning on “Open to work” on LinkedIn is you will get a few more spam messages, or have recruiters reach out with positions you aren’t interested in. While the feature helps you get more messages and connection requests, you’ll still have to sort through them to find those relevant to your career goals.

Expert opinions on “Open to Work”

What do hiring experts think about the “Open to work” banner? Opinions can differ quite a bit on the subject.

On the one hand, you’ll see some job recruiters say that seeing a candidate with the green “open to work” label on their LinkedIn profile picture is a red flag. Some believe that the best candidates for jobs are the ones who aren’t actively looking for them.

However, that assumption has several flaws and many job recruiters say thinking that way makes the hiring process much more difficult. It’s also much harder to find and hire people who aren’t currently in the job market.

In general, most recruiters say that you assess applicants in the interview process and by reviewing the overall qualifications on their resumes regardless of their current employment or job-seeking status. That’s why using tools like resume templates is essential to optimize your overall appearance when seeking a new job.

Many also say they filter for people with the “Open to work” label active since they already know they’re interested in hearing from recruiters, making it much easier for them to track down potential applicants.

Now that you know the basics of the “Open to work” feature, let’s review some examples of professionals who used it successfully. This will include their background, what they did, and the impact activating the banner had on their job search process.

Case Study 1: Successful Job Search with “Open to Work”

An example of successfully using the “Open to work” signal on LinkedIn was an operations manager in the tech industry.

She had seven years of experience in the industry but had been out of work for a couple of months due to her previous company downsizing and the competitive hiring market in the tech space.

After considering all the options, she decided that activating the “Open to work” label was right for her needs. Plus, she doubled down on it, making a post stating that she was looking for new opportunities as an operations manager in the tech industry.

The post received 147 likes and 42 comments from people in her network who offered encouragement or directed her to potential opportunities. The post even reached a former employer who just had a workplace lead role open up.

After going through the interview process, she accepted the new role as workplace lead at a company she was familiar with and is happy to rejoin as they look to develop tech that helps companies better manage environmental regulations.

Case Study 2: Networking Success

A journalist was searching for a new role after the publication she worked at closed. Despite having five years of experience, she was having trouble finding opportunities since the journalism industry is highly competitive. So, she decided to turn on LinkedIn’s “Open to work” feature to provide more visibility to recruiters.

After activating the feature, she saw a significant increase in connection requests and people in the industry reaching out to better understand her experiences and capabilities. Over the two months she had it active, she gained 52 new professional connections.

While she didn’t land a new full-time role with a publication, she was able to leverage the connections she met to land several side projects as a freelance copywriter. After successfully writing some landing pages for an organization, they referred her to their colleagues who needed consistent writing help.

Those opportunities through connections continued to add up, helping her start a full-time business offering her services as a copywriter. Even when new connections didn’t immediately offer new opportunities, she still found it valuable to make those connections since they could lead to new work later on down the line.

Case Study 3: Balancing Visibility and Privacy

A consumer sales professional was currently employed as an outbound sales rep with a cable TV and internet provider. However, he was looking for opportunities to grow his career as his employer didn’t have enough potential for advancement in his current role.

Since he didn’t want to risk his current employer seeing the “Open to work” banner on his profile, he activated the option to only have recruiters see it to ensure privacy in the process.

After about three weeks of having it active, he received a message from a recruiter with a local marketing firm that was looking to hire account executives. The company had a history and emphasis on promoting from within, so it looked like the ideal opportunity to continue growing his career.

After completing the interview and contemplating his options, he accepted the job offer as an account executive with the marketing firm. This position has helped expand his responsibilities, including managing large accounts, running local events, and learning new sales skills with an organization that promotes a team culture he’s passionate about.

Plus, the privacy of having the “Open to work” label only visible to recruiters helped him easily transition between jobs while still allowing relevant job recruiters to find his LinkedIn profile. It was a win-win in the end.

When you see “Open to work” on someone’s LinkedIn profile, it means they’re actively open to job offers. They are more likely to be interested when recruiters reach out to them, which is why many hiring teams will sort for profiles that have the feature activated.

LinkedIn provides features that will hide your “open to work” status from your current employer. When you’re setting it up, make sure to check the box that says only job recruiters can see you have it active to maintain your privacy as you look for a new position.

Some hiring experts say that using “Open to work” can make you look desperate. However, if you use it strategically by optimizing your LinkedIn profile with top skills, achievements, or what you’re working on as you look for new roles, it can significantly minimize that impression.

Navigate to your LinkedIn profile page. Click the pencil icon in the “Open to work” box toward the top of your profile. Scroll down in the box that appears and click the “Delete” button. Once you refresh your profile, the “Open to work” label should have disappeared.

The main benefit of using “Open to work” is it increases your visibility to job recruiters and provides another way to find opportunities rather than just sorting through job posts. The feature can also help you grow your professional network since you’ll get more connection requests and messages from those in your industry.

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Steve Jobs, the Immediate Case Study

• Nancy Koehn

In all kinds of places this past week — from Twitter feeds to boardrooms — people discussed Steve Jobs’s career at Apple as a kind of informal but very important case study. This is not surprising, given his contributions to technology and the lasting impact he’ll have on the way we communicate. On the other […]

In all kinds of places this past week — from Twitter feeds to boardrooms — people discussed Steve Jobs’s career at Apple as a kind of informal but very important case study. This is not surprising, given his contributions to technology and the lasting impact he’ll have on the way we communicate. On the other hand, given the currency of Jobs and Apple’s achievements, this is quite rare. John Rockefeller, IBM’s Thomas Watson Sr., and many others have been recognized for their skills as strategists and organizational builders, but we didn’t use them as case studies — at business schools or in conversation — until decades and decades after their deaths.

• Nancy Koehn is the James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

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Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

• Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
• Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
• The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
• Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
• A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
• Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
• The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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Student employment programs are administered by the CWRU Office of Student Employment. The two types of student employment at Case Western Reserve University are the Federal Work-Study Program and the campus employment program. Approximately two-thirds of the jobs on campus do not require students to have Federal Work-Study eligibility.

It is important for students to understand the employment program they have been awarded (please refer to your Financial Aid Notification Letter on the My Financial Aid portal), and to identify employment opportunities only in the program for which they are eligible.

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Case study for job interviews

How do you guys feel about case studies during interviews? I’m currently on my 4th interview for an Analyst role and the recruiter just sent me a case study, wanting me to forecast their business for the remainder of the year. Mind you, I’m already an analyst who’s been in my position for 3 years. I would be more comfortable if the case study didn’t involve their business but something random. It feels like they want me to do free work for them and not ultimately know if I got the job. The job also pays less of what I’m making.

Assistant Director of Career Experiences and Events

• Madison, Wisconsin
• WISCONSIN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS/BBA PROGRAM OFFICE
• Academic Services and Student Experience
• Partially Remote
• Staff-Full Time
• Opening at: Jun 27 2024 at 11:40 CDT
• Closing at: Jul 14 2024 at 23:55 CDT

Job Summary:

This position manages and supports a student-facing team to implement our Career Forward signature experiences. These important student experiences include but are not limited to 5 career treks to cities across the country, a job shadowing program at 60 locations, case study competitions, and over 150 on-campus recruiting visits. This role will also partner with the Assistant Director of Career Engagement on overall career programming and oversight.

Responsibilities:

• 30% Advises students, delivers career development programming for students, and/or consults with employers on recruitment strategy and planning
• 35% Manages one or more specific operational area(s) or functional area(s) or program(s) within the unit
• 10% Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
• 5% Assists in identifying, promoting, and maintaining external partnerships to understand employment needs and encourage recruitment of the institutions students
• 5% Participates in the campus-wide career services community providing input to leadership regarding the development of advising, recruitment, and co/curricular programs offered by the school/college
• 15% Contributes to the conceptualization, development and implementation of strategic initiatives for the work unit to ensure alignment of strategy and operations

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals. The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world. For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: Diversity and Inclusion

Required Bachelor's Degree Preferred Master's Degree

Qualifications:

Required minimum years of experience: - 4 years event management experience - 4 years working in higher education environment - 2 years working in a career service office Preferred: - Exceptional organizational and administrative skills - Extensive customer service experience - Proficient in navigating complex purchasing processes

Full Time: 100% This position may require some work to be performed in-person, onsite, at a designated campus work location. Some work may be performed remotely, at an offsite, non-campus work location.

Appointment Type, Duration:

Ongoing/Renewable

Minimum $72,000 ANNUAL (12 months) Depending on Qualifications Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and paid time off; competitive insurance and savings accounts; and retirement benefits.

Additional Information:

Please note that successful applicants are responsible for ensuring their eligibility to work in the United States (i.e. a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without the need of an employer sponsorship) on or before the effective date of appointment. Diversity and inclusion are primary values for the Wisconsin School of Business and are integral to achieving our strategic goals. We seek candidates with an awareness of and commitment to the principles of diversity and inclusion across all spectrums. Our school is committed to continuously increasing the cultural competence of its staff and faculty members through school-wide forums and professional development opportunities.

How to Apply:

Please complete the online application and attach a cover letter addressing your qualifications and experiences specifically relating to the responsibilities of this position as described along with a comprehensive resume. Our search committee will review all application materials after the posted deadline. We will notify selected applicants to participate further in the selection process directly. We will notify all applicants once the search is completed and we have selected a top candidate. As applicants move on to next steps in the process, they will be asked to provide names and contact information (e-mail address, phone number, and mailing address) of at least three references.

Rima Okbazghi [email protected] 608-262-2810 Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information.

Official Title:

Career Svcs Asst Dir(AE033)

Department(s):

A12-WISCONSIN SCH OF BUSINESS/UNDERGRADUATE PROG OFFICE

Employment Class:

Academic Staff-Renewable

Job Number:

The university of wisconsin-madison is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer..

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Exploring ways to use generative AI for insights

This case study investigates whether generative AI can enhance messaging strategies to improve brand choice conversion.

Leveraging generative AI for research insights

Editor’s note: Diane Lauridsen is head of consumer insights at UScellular.

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic across the research community, including how and when to use (or not use) AI for insights. Earlier this year I conducted a case study to explore if the use of generative AI could be leveraged to develop a messaging strategy with a goal to improve conversion from consideration to brand choice. This consumer journey is well-known by marketers, with many books written about the value of brand equity. While we talk about brands as having financial value and assets to be managed, ultimately brands exist in the minds of consumers, and this means they can create meaningful relationships. Brands that create meaningful relationships and manage both a consumer’s head and  their heart hold stronger equity. In other words, we connect with brands that seem to speak our language and reflect the image we want to project.

Brands also help to reduce the cognitive load of life. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman suggests that brand loyalties help us lower the amount of thinking and decision-making   we must do in a day. We have more than enough processing to do without having to stress over every purchase. Everyday decisions tend to be made using System 1 decision-making, while we use our rational and conscientious brain (System 2) for more rational decision-making. An Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and B2B Institute study noted that in addition to focusing on trying to build specific brand associations in consumers’ minds, it may be equally important, if not more important, to manage the number and interconnectedness of the brand’s associations. The higher the overlap and interconnection of these brand with category associations the lower the likelihood that customers will switch to another brand and the stronger likelihood the brand will convert consideration to choice (brand and category density) . 

Evaluating the limits of generative AI in research 

Our case study came to life to assess generative AI’s ability to capture category associations, and to better understand its ability to replicate primary research. The overarching lesson: generative AI (with guardrails) can be used in research to provide insights.

In this case study, AI was used to successfully develop a list of category associations to be used in brand density message strategy research; however, one question didn’t provide the breadth or depth of information. In short, generative AI isn’t a one and done solution. Rather, leveraging AI is more effective for generating insights when asking multiple questions and being specific in how the question is worded, as well as leveraging multiple AI tools to bolster confidence in accuracy.

To be a bit more specific, when asking a simple question of, “What comes to mind when you think about ‘category’?” AI generates broad, rational (head) themes that are scattered and lacking commonality. In comparing results from AI to results from primary research using the same question, consumers provided descriptive words, images, colors and emotive phrases to describe the category. This led to a learning that it is best to ask very specific questions, drill down to get to specific words, associations and imagery that consumers would use to describe a brand until all variations are exhausted. By doing this I was able build a full understanding of a category using AI – asking questions such as, “What images come to mind when you think about (CATEGORY)?” and, “What specific features come to mind when you think about (CATEGORY)?”

To boost confidence with results, I used multiple AI sources and then I looked for commonalities to refine the output. These AI findings were cross-checked to primary research which confirmed that AI could indeed be used effectively for this type of analysis by using multiple questions balanced with researcher judgement and creativity.

Leveraging AI associations for the category speeds up the research insight process – saving time and money. AI can be used to supplement, rather than replace, human creativity and judgement.

In summary, generative AI proved useful for broad questions:

• AI is more consistent and impactful when asking multiple questions.
• AI can be used to save time, for example auto coding : read and analyze hundreds of comments in seconds.
• AI provides comprehensive high-level themes.
• Leveraging gen AI associations for the category can speed up the research insight process, saving time and money. 

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What is CRM?

Manage, track, and store information related to potential customers using a centralized, data-driven software solution.

Defining CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a set of integrated, data-driven software solutions that help manage, track, and store information related to your company’s current and potential customers. By keeping this information in a centralized system, business teams have access to the insights they need, the moment they need them.

Without the support of an integrated CRM solution, your company may miss growth opportunities and lose potential revenue because it’s not optimizing operating processes or making the most of customer relationships and sales leads.

What does a CRM do?

Not too long ago, companies tracked customer-related data with spreadsheets, email, address books, and other siloed, often paper-based CRM solutions. A lack of integration and automation prevented people within and across teams from quickly finding and sharing up-to-date information, slowing their ability to create marketing campaigns, pursue new sales leads, and service customers.

Fast forward to today. CRM systems automatically collect a wealth of information about existing and prospective customers. This data includes email addresses, phone numbers, company websites, social media posts, purchase histories, and service and support tickets. The system next integrates the data and generates consolidated profiles to be shared with appropriate teams.

CRM systems also connect with other business tools, including online chat and document sharing apps. In addition, they have built-in business intelligence and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that accelerate administrative tasks and provide actionable insights.

In other words, modern CRM tools give sales, marketing, commerce, field service, and customer service teams immediate visibility into—and access to—everything crucial to developing, improving, and retaining customer relationships.

Some ways you can use CRM capabilities to benefit your company are to:

• Monitor each opportunity through the sales funnel for better sales. CRM solutions help track lead-related data, accompanied with insights, so sales and marketing teams can stay organized, understand where each lead is in the sales process, and know who has worked on each opportunity.
• Use sales monitoring to get real-time performance data. Link sales data into your CRM solution to provide an immediate, accurate picture of sales. With a real-time view of your pipeline, you’ll be aware of any slowdowns and bottlenecks—or if your team won a major deal.
• Plan your next step with insight generation. Focus on what matters most using AI and built-in intelligence to identify the top priorities and how your team can make the most of their time and efforts. For example, sales teams can identify which leads are ready to hand off and which need follow-up.
• Optimize workflows with automation. Build sales quotes, gather customer feedback, and send email campaigns with task automation, which helps streamline marketing, sales, and customer service. Thus, helping eliminate repetitive tasks so your team can focus on high-impact activities.
• Track customer interactions for greater impact. CRM solutions include features that tap into customer behavior and surface opportunities for optimization to help you better understand engagement across various customer touchpoints.
• Connect across multiple platforms for superior customer engagement. Whether through live chat, calls, email, or social interactions, CRM solutions help you connect with customers where they are, helping build the trust and loyalty that keeps your customers coming back.
• Grow with agility and gain a competitive advantage. A scalable, integrated CRM solution built on a security-rich platform helps meet the ever-changing needs of your business and the marketplace. Quickly launch new marketing, e-commerce, and other initiatives and deliver rapid responses to consumer demands and marketplace conditions.

Why implement a CRM solution?

As you define your CRM strategy and evaluate customer relationship management solutions , look for one that provides a complete view of each customer relationship. You also need a solution that collects relevant data at every customer touchpoint, analyzes it, and surfaces the insights intelligently.

Learn how to choose the right CRM for your needs in The CRM Buyer’s Guide for Today’s Business . With the right CRM system, your company helps enhance communications and ensure excellent experiences at each stage of the customer journey, as outlined below:

• Identify and engage the right customers. Predictive insight and data-driven buyer behavior helps you learn how to identify, target, and attract the right leads—and then turn them into customers.
• Improve customer interaction. With a complete view of the customer, every member of the sales team will know a customer’s history, purchasing patterns, and any specific data that’ll help your team provide the most attentive service to each individual customer.
• Track progress across the customer journey. Knowing where a customer is in your overall sales lifecycle helps you target campaigns and opportunities for the highest engagement.
• Increase team productivity. Improved visibility and streamlined processes help increase productivity, helping your team focus on what matters most.

How can a CRM help your company?

Companies of all sizes benefit from CRM software. For small businesses seeking to grow, CRM helps automate business processes, freeing employees to focus on higher-value activities. For enterprises, CRM helps simplify and improve even the most complex customer engagements.

Take a closer look at how a CRM system helps benefit your individual business teams.

Marketing teams

Improve your customers’ journey. With the ability to generate multichannel marketing campaigns, nurture sales-ready leads with targeted buyer experiences, and align your teams with planning and real-time tracking tools, you’re able to present curated marketing strategies that’ll resonate with your customers.

As you gain insights into your brand reputation and market through customized dashboards of data analysis, you’re able to prioritize the leads that matter most to your business and adapt quickly with insights and business decisions fueled by the results of targeted, automated processes.

Sales teams

Empower sellers to engage with customers to truly understand their needs, and effectively win more deals. As the business grows, finding the right prospects and customers with targeted sales strategies becomes easier, resulting in a successful plan of action for the next step in your pipeline.

Building a smarter selling strategy with embedded insights helps foster relationships, boost productivity, accelerate sales performances, and innovate with a modern and adaptable platform. And by using AI capabilities that can measure past and present leading indicators, you can track customer relationships from start to finish and automate sales execution with contextual prompts that delivers a personalized experience and aligns with the buyer’s journey anytime, anywhere.

Customer service teams

Provide customers with an effortless omnichannel experience. With the use of service bots, your customer service teams will have the tools to be able to deliver value and improve engagement with every interaction. Offering personalized services, agents can upsell or cross-sell using relevant, contextual data, and based on feedback, surveys, and social listening, optimize their resources based on real-time service trends.

In delivering a guided, intelligent service supported on all channels, customers can connect with agents easily and quickly resolve their issues, resulting in a first-class customer experience.

Field service teams

Empower your agents to create a better in-person experience. By implementing the Internet of Things (IoT) into your operations, you’re able to detect problems faster—automate work orders, schedule, and dispatch technicians in just a few clicks. By streamlining scheduling and inventory management , you can boost onsite efficiency, deliver a more personalized service, and reduce costs.

By providing transparent communications with real-time technician location tracking, appointment reminders, quotes, contracts, and scheduling information, customers stay connected to your field agents and build trust with your business.

Project service automation teams

Improve your profitability with integrated planning tools and analytics that help build your customer-centric delivery model. By gaining transparency into costs and revenue using robust project planning capabilities and intuitive dashboards, you’re able to anticipate demands, determine resources capacity, and forecast project profitability.

And with the ability to measure utilization with real-time dashboards, you can empower your service professionals to apply those insights to their own workflows and optimize resources at any given time. With visibility into those insights, teams are more likely to simplify processes internally, seamlessly collaborate, and increase productivity.

Why use Dynamics 365 for your CRM solution?

With Dynamics 365 , you get a flexible and customizable solution suited to your business requirements. Choose a standalone application to meet the needs of a specific line of business or use multiple CRM applications that work together as a powerful, comprehensive solution.

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The Federal Reserve’s Little Secret

No one really knows how interest rates work, or even whether they work at all—not the experts who study them, the investors who track them, or the officials who set them.

Listen to this article

Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.

Arguably the single most important question for the U.S. economy in 2024 is whether and when the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. With inflation still hovering just above the Fed’s 2 percent target, the central bank faces a dilemma: Lower rates too quickly, and inflation could take off again; keep them high for too long, and the public could suffer unnecessarily. The decision could even affect the outcome of the presidential election. Wall Street and the White House are anxiously awaiting the Fed’s next move.

Given all that, you might reasonably expect the relationship between interest rates and inflation to be thoroughly understood by the economics establishment. Not so. Over the past two years, reality has looked nothing like the theories found in economics textbooks. The uncomfortable truth is that no one really knows how interest rates work or even whether they work at all—not the experts who study them, the investors who track them, or the officials who set them.

The belief that raising interest rates is the cure for inflation has long been an article of faith. In the early 1980s, when inflation reached nearly 15 percent, then–Fed Chair Paul Volcker famously raised rates to record levels, triggering a major recession. Unemployment reached nearly 11 percent in 1982 and stayed high for years. But inflation stabilized, and Volcker went down in history as the hero who wrecked the economy to save it.

Rogé Karma: The 1970s economic theory that refuses to die

How exactly did Volcker accomplish the job? The conventional view is that raising rates sets off a chain reaction throughout the economy. First, the Fed increases what is known as the federal funds rate—the interest that banks must pay to borrow money from one another, which in turn forces them to charge more for consumer loans. Those higher rates ripple throughout the economy, making it more expensive for people to buy homes and cars, companies to make investments, and developers to finance new construction.

Gradually, everyone starts spending less money. Then, faced with less demand from consumers and less access to capital, companies begin laying off workers. At this point, a vicious cycle takes hold. Laid-off workers pull back even more on spending, which means more layoffs and, in turn, even less spending, until the economy falls into recession. With less money chasing the same amount of goods, prices finally come under control. The dread beast inflation is defeated.

This is the canonical story of what happened in the 1980s. And so, when inflation hit three years ago, and the Fed reached for the one tool in its toolbox, nearly every expert predicted an ’80s-style economic meltdown. A Bloomberg Economics model forecast a 100 percent chance of a recession by October 2023, and the Fed itself projected hundreds of thousands of job losses. The experts were wrong. Over the course of 2023, the economy boomed, unemployment remained historically low, and consumers kept spending. Despite all that, inflation fell anyway, from a peak of 9 percent in June 2022 to about 3 percent by the end of 2023.

We have a bit of a mystery on our hands. The Fed raised rates, and inflation fell—but the other steps in the chain reaction never happened. Did higher interest rates cause inflation to decline, or was that a coincidence? Multiple studies have concluded that the inflation spike was mostly caused by pandemic-shutdown ripple effects. Perhaps the subsequent decline was just a natural consequence of things returning to normal.

Some experts believe that the orthodox theory holds up. “You have to ask, ‘What’s the counterfactual?’” Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary and informal dean of mainstream American economics, told me. In Summers’s view, without the Fed’s actions, unemployment would have been even lower, wages would have gone up even faster, spending would have been even higher, and inflation would have gone up even further.

Still, if interest rates helped tame inflation, you’d expect to see their impact show up somewhere . Yet even in construction—the sector typically hit earliest and hardest when rates go up—employment has kept rising . “You can tell a lot of stories about the role interest rates played, but that’s really all they are at this point: stories,” Skanda Amarnath, the executive director of Employ America, a think tank focused on monetary policy, told me. “There’s no smoking gun in the data.”

When I said there was a conventional view of how interest rates work, that wasn’t the whole story. There are actually two conventional views. One is the chain-reaction theory. The other is about expectations.

According to Econ 101, if workers expect prices to rise tomorrow, they will demand higher wages today. That will in turn raise costs for businesses, which pass those on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Economists refer to this feedback loop as the “wage-price spiral.” In the 1970s, prices rose so fast for so long that eventually people came to expect them to keep rising and adjusted their behavior accordingly. Inflation became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The expectations theory provides an alternative account of how Volcker tamed inflation in the ’80s: By raising interest rates to record levels, he sent the message that the Fed would do whatever it took to defeat inflation. Only then did Americans finally accept that price growth would slow down.

Some experts believe that inflation fell so painlessly in 2023 because the Fed never let expectations get out of control in the first place. The central bank began raising rates early on and signaled clearly that it would stop at nothing to bring prices down. Convinced that a recession was around the corner, employers stopped raising wages and hiring as quickly, and consumers slowed down their spending, which allowed the economy to glide smoothly toward a more stable equilibrium.

Derek Thompson : How the recession doomers got the U.S. economy so wrong

This is the kind of economic theory that sounds very plausible until you try to apply it to actual human behavior. How, exactly, is the latest federal-funds-rate number supposed to penetrate the consciousness of the American consumer? Normal people don’t pay much attention to the minutes of Federal Reserve meetings. You might suppose that the Fed’s general vibe trickles down through the media to the man on the street via a drawn-out game of economic telephone, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The average American has depressingly little idea of what’s going on with the national economy. (In one recent poll , 56 percent of respondents said that we’re in a recession. We are not.) And even if people are aware of rate hikes, that doesn’t mean they will respond in the way the textbooks predict. A survey recently conducted by a trio of economists found that 57 percent of Americans believe that raising interest rates actually causes inflation to rise . This isn’t totally irrational—more on that later—but it’s the exact opposite of how Econ 101 says people react to higher rates.

Even those who endorse the expectations theory acknowledge that they can’t explain how it works. “Do we really think an individual person in some town somewhere is really saying, ‘Oh, the Fed went to a 5.5 federal funds rate, so I won’t ask for more wages’?” Adam Posen, a former central banker who literally co-wrote the book on the role expectations play in lowering inflation, told me. “Economic theory says yes: Through some magical awareness, people do behave that way. I’ve always been a little skeptical of that.”

If the benefits of high interest rates are mysterious and uncertain, the costs are fairly clear. Many low-income households, which may rely on borrowing to cover routine expenses, are struggling . Several big clean-energy projects have been canceled , partly because of higher financing costs. Rising rates will also force the U.S. government to pay a projected $870 billion to service the national debt this year, more than it spends on Medicaid or national defense.

Most troubling of all, today’s high interest rates may paradoxically be prolonging the inflation problem. Most of the gap between the current rate of inflation (just above 3 percent) and the Fed’s 2 percent target comes from a single category: housing. In theory, higher interest rates should temper housing prices by making mortgages more expensive and thus reducing demand. In reality, many homeowners are staying put to preserve the cheap mortgages they secured when rates were lower. This “lock-in effect” has restricted the supply of available homes, exacerbating a decades-long housing shortage and putting upward pressure on prices. Even more worrying in the long run, higher borrowing costs mean less investment in building new homes. When it comes to housing, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told me, “the Fed’s main tool for lowering inflation is actually doing the opposite.”

Annie Lowrey: Why did cars get so expensive?

The Fed sees things differently. At its most recent meeting, earlier this month, the central bank decided to keep rates at current levels, citing a trio of hotter-than-expected inflation reports at the beginning of the year that left the trajectory of prices unclear. “We remain highly attentive to inflation risks,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a press conference announcing the Fed’s decision. (Notably, the latest inflation report, released the same day as the Fed’s announcement, showed dramatic signs of improvement.)

Powell’s worry is this: Inflation is still too high for reasons no one fully understands. If people like Lawrence Summers are right that interest rates are keeping the economy from running too hot, then easing up on them could allow inflation to get out of control all over again. That would be the ultimate nightmare scenario for the central bank, which is terrified of losing the inflation-fighting credibility that Paul Volcker worked so hard, and caused so much damage, to build.

For the central bank, in other words, interest rates are like chemotherapy. They might have horrible side effects. They might not even work. But they’re a lot better than taking your chances with the cancer of inflation. “The lesson of the 1970s is that once inflation really takes off, getting it down is really hard and expensive,” Summers told me. “So the Fed has every reason to be extra cautious.”

Although a wait-and-see approach sounds reasonable, no one knows how long it takes for rate increases to work their way through the economy’s bloodstream. As two leading scholars of the history of monetary policy wrote last year, “If policymakers keep tightening until inflation falls as much as they want, they will likely have gone too far—because the effects of tight policy will continue for many months after they stop raising rates.” Translation: Wait too long to cut rates, and you might throw people out of work unnecessarily. You might even trigger a recession.

The orthodox view of interest rates has a utopian quality to it: Inflation—one of the single greatest threats to the social and economic order—can be controlled with the equivalent of a push of a button. The events of the past two years have called that notion into question. This time, we were lucky, avoiding both an inflationary spiral and a recession. Next time we may not be. Fortunately, there are many other ideas for how to fight inflation. They include taxing the consumption of the rich to restrain spending, boosting immigration to alleviate worker shortages, cracking down on price-fixing , and keeping strategic reserves of important goods in case of a supply crunch. These approaches are all far messier and more politically fraught than waiting for the Fed to work its magic behind closed doors. But the next time inflation rolls around, we may need them.

Support for this project was provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Featured Article

A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs

From major layoffs at tesla, amazon and microsoft to small fintech startups and apps.

The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023 , this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi . Companies like Tesla , Amazon , Google , TikTok , Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized startups have also seen a fair amount of cuts, and in some cases, have shut down operations altogether .

By tracking these layoffs, we’re able to understand the impact on innovation across companies large and small. We’re also able to see the potential impact of businesses embracing AI and automation for jobs that had previously been considered safe. It also serves as a reminder of the human impact of layoffs and what could be at stake in regards to increased innovation.

Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of all the known layoffs in tech that have occurred in 2024, to be updated regularly. If you have a tip on a layoff, contact us here . If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact us here .

• January 2024: 19,350 employees laid off — see all January 2024 Tech Layoffs
• February 2024: 15,589 employees laid off — see all February 2024 Tech Layoffs
• March 2024: 7,403 employees laid off — see all March 2024 Tech Layoffs
• April 2024: 22,153 employees laid off — see all April 2024 Tech Layoffs
• May 2024: 9,882 employees laid off — see all May 2024 Tech Layoffs

Ginkgo Bioworks

Terminated 158 employees, with another batch of layoffs expected to come as the company aims to reduce its workforce by 25%.

Is making cuts to 10% of its workforce, impacting around 20 to 25 employees.

Is laying off 375 employees, accounting for 5% of its total workforce.

Will eliminate up to 85 employees based in Ireland, the company announced.

Is reportedly laying off around 30 employees in Israel and will move positions to other regions to cut costs.

Cut 16 employees in its supplier resource management department as it focuses on automation.

Is reducing its global headcount by 23% in a major restructuring effort as the online learning platform aims to become a “leaner” operation.

Is closing up shop and liquidating its assets. The number of employees affected is currently unknown.

Is reducing its headcount by 15% as the company attempts to “think in longer time frames,” the company announced in a blog post.

Is making more cuts, co-CEO Carey Anne Nadeau announced on LinkedIn . The number of employees impacted is currently unknown.

Will lay off its 143 employees by July 3 due to a “funding loss,” and will no longer be accepting new orders. The company has not shut down fully though, telling TechCrunch: “We are actively exploring options for the brand but do not have anything definitive to communicate at this time.”

Running Tide

Shut down its operations and laid off its remaining employees after raising more than $50 million since its 2017 start.

Is laying off 70 employees, about 30% of its workforce, three weeks after an earlier round of cuts impacted 34 employees.

Is slashing around 450 jobs at its Indonesian e-commerce division, accounting for 9% of the unit. 

Has eliminated around 30% of its total workforce , CEO Graham Gaylor confirmed in a statement.

Is reportedly conducting large cuts across the company. The total number of employees impacted is currently unknown.

Has cut around 45 jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

Copia Global

Has laid off at least 1,060 employees two weeks after the startup filed for administration.

Is laying off its 1,000+ staff drivers as it embraces a gig worker model similar to that of Lyft and Uber.

Has cut 30 employees a month after the Bengaluru-based startup laid off 160 people.

Has confirmed layoffs of 150 jobs as it drastically scales back its expansion ambitions to focus on its markets in Norway and Sweden.

Is laying off 100 workers, or 20% of its staff, in another round of cuts.

Is reportedly laying off 10% of its workforce, amounting to around 30 people.

Is reportedly cutting hundreds of employees working in its Azure cloud business, though the exact number of employees impacted is currently unknown.

Is laying off 100 employees months after reducing its headcount by 50 workers.

Is reportedly making large cuts globally across several of its Cloud teams, including teams focused on sustainability, consulting and partner engineering.

Is eliminating 40 employees as part of a restructuring effort, CEO David Campbell wrote in a post on LinkedIn . 

Gro Intelligence

Is shutting down its operations after laying off 60% of its staff in March in an attempt to stay afloat.

Jasper Health

Has laid off a substantial part of its workforce , TechCrunch learned. Engineering and product design departments were most impacted by the cuts at the cancer care platform startup.

Is laying off 37 tech workers at FlightStats , the flight tracking startup it acquired in 2016, as it plans to consolidate its operations in India and the U.K.

Is cutting 15 employees in a round of layoffs, impacting 20% of the Israeli startup’s total workforce.

Has laid off hundreds of employees in a bid to keep the EV startup alive . One current and one laid off employee told TechCrunch exclusively that an estimated 150 people remain at the company.

Is shutting down its operations and laying off the rest of its staff. The COVID-19 test company laid off half of its workforce earlier this month to cut costs.

Has let go of 105 employees as the company seeks to “streamline” its operations, according to an email to staffers from current CEO Gary Little.

Lucid Motors

Is laying off about 400 employees , roughly 6% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring ahead of the launch of its first electric SUV later this year.

Will reportedly make large cuts to its global operations and marketing teams. The amount of employees impacted is currently unknown.

Will reportedly cut 14% of its staff , impacting 175 employees, as the company shifts its focus from original Disney+ programming back to films.

Let go of 20% of its staff as the coding startup shifts its focus to enterprise sales.

Cut about 30% of its total workforce . The recruiting startup that uses AI to find candidates was last valued at over $1.2 billion in January 2022 .

Eliminated 6% of its staff in another round of layoffs as the fast-delivery startup attempts to become cash-flow positive by the end of 2024.

Plans to lay off 106 employees , according to a WARN notice filed in Texas. 

Has shut down its operations . The number of employees affected is currently unknown.

Is cutting roughly 1,000 jobs, impacting 8% of the company’s headcount, CEO Chris Hyams wrote in a letter to staff .

Cut around 40% of its workforce, impacting about 550 employees, sources told TechCrunch . The company’s chief operating officer, Abe Ghabra, has also left the company.

Will eliminate 57 positions in San Francisco , according to a WARN notice filed in California.

Is eliminating 800 employees , accounting for 13% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring effort.

Told The Verge it has laid off most of its staff and is no longer selling its smart home controllers and light switches as it looks for a buyer.

Laid off roughly 170 workers , impacting a third of its total headcount, in an effort to cut back on annual operating costs. 

Closed Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and more game studios as part of cuts at Bethesda . It’s currently unclear how many employees will be impacted.

Is eliminating 230 employees, about 49% of its workforce, in a cost cutting measure laid out in documents filed with the U.S. SEC .

Is slashing its workforce by 20% . The cuts will affect around 140 employees, and the company is also cutting ties with “the majority” of its contract workers.

Has laid off about 3% of its workforce , impacting 116 people, the company confirmed to TechCrunch in a statement. The cuts come over a year after the company eliminated about 4% of its headcount .

Is laying off 15% of its workforce , affecting about 400 people, as part of a cost-cutting effort. The company’s CEO Barry McCarthy is also stepping down.

Has gutted its charging team in a new round of layoffs , CEO Elon Musk announced in an overnight email to executives.

Has laid off staff across key teams like Flutter, Dart and Python . It is currently unclear how many employees were let go.

Is laying off more employees to “preserve cash,” according to an internal email viewed by TechCrunch . The number of cuts is currently unknown.

Is shutting down operations in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe, impacting at least 6,000 jobs across the closing markets .

Is cutting about 180 jobs in a profitability push and has let go its chief executive Hemant Bakshi, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

True Anomaly

The space and defense startup laid off nearly 30 people, accounting for about 25% of its workforce, due to “duplication of roles and functions across the company,” TechCrunch exclusively reported.

Is expected to cut employees in its Austin office for the second time this year.

Plans to eliminate 740 employees at its Oregon headquarters this summer, according to a WARN Act notice.

Stability AI

Is eliminating 10% of its workforce following the exit of former CEO Emad Mostaque.

Is laying off workers as part of continued cost cutting measures . The number of employees affected was at the time unknown.

Is reducing its total workforce by 1% . It’s the second round of layoffs for the EV maker this year.

Is laying off 5% of its workforce , affecting around 579 employees. The GTA 6 publisher also announced the elimination of “several projects” in development.

Is eliminating about 20% of its 59 employees in a restructuring effort.

Is cutting “more than 10%” of its global workforce , per an internal email sent by CEO Elon Musk. That could impact more than 14,000 workers worldwide, as Tesla prepares itself “for our next phase of growth” amid a challenging EV market.

Is reducing its global workforce by nearly 4%, impacting up to 140 employees .

Is laying off 250 employees based in Ireland as it restructures its Training and Quality team.

Hinge Health

Cut approximately 10% of its workforce, TechCrunch exclusively learned , as the company prepares for an IPO and aims to reach profitability.

Has laid off 382 employees, amounting to 32% of its total workforce, TechCrunch exclusively learned . The background-screening platform was last valued at $5 billion in April of 2022.

Reportedly laid off a sizable part of its staff in a restructuring effort. The number of employees impacted is currently unknown, but sources told Inc42 that it could be “in the range of 70-100” workers.

Is laying off 614 employees in California after abandoning its electric car project , according to a WARN notice .

Agility Robotics

Has laid off a “small number” of employees as part of a company-wide focus on commercialization efforts.

Ghost Autonomy

Shut down operations. The company, which was backed by OpenAI, employed about 100 people .

Is shutting down Yummly , the recipe and cooking app it acquired in 2017.

Will cut hundreds of jobs across Sales, Marketing, Global Services and its Physical Stores Technology team.

Byju’s

Is laying off about 500 employees , accounting for 3% of its total workforce, as part of a restructuring effort.

Has laid off 20% of its staff after acquiring point-of-sale platform Cuboh. The company previously laid off 100 people in 2022.

Nintendo of America

Is restructuring its testing department, which is largely made up of contractors. A Nintendo spokesperson told Kotaku the changes will end some assignments but will lead to the creation of new full-time positions.

Cut its global workforce by about 6,000 jobs , according to a 10-K SEC filing . The filing reveals the company cut 13,000 jobs in the last year .

Has made cuts to its staff, the company confirmed to TechCrunch . A report in Fintech Business Weekly estimates that 17 people, or about 15% of the company, were impacted. 

Is cutting 195 roles in an effort to become more sustainable, CEO Henry Chan wrote in a blog post . The layoffs impact nearly a quarter of its staff.

Reportedly eliminated 20% of its total workforce in its second restructuring effort in the past year.

Chipper Cash

Conducted another round of layoffs impacting 20 employees, CEO Ham Serunjogi announced in a blog post . 

Has reportedly cut 16% of its staff in a strategic move to support its Textio Lift product. 

Is reportedly laying off around 25% of its workforce . According to Axios, the cuts affect roughly 80 people.

Phantom Auto

Is shutting down after failing to secure new funding, TechCrunch has learned . The remote driving startup, which had cut staff last year, employed a little more than 100 people.

Is reportedly slashing its marketing and communications staff. The company previously announced a strategy to replace upwards of 8,000 jobs with AI.

Inscribe.ai

Cut just under 40% of its staff, equating to dozens of employees, the company confirmed to TechCrunch .

Laid off around 15 people earlier this year , following comments from CEO Chris Caren that the company would be able to reduce 20% of its headcount thanks to AI.

Laid off 13% of its staff based in its New York office as the web3 fantasy sports platform focuses on its Paris headquarters, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch .

Is eliminating roughly 7% of its workforce as part of organizational restructuring. The fintech unicorn last conducted layoffs in August 2022.

Is cutting about 13% of its workforce , affecting 40 employees. It’s the second round of layoffs for the battery startup in recent months.

Project Ronin

Is shutting down, resulting in a “permanent mass layoff” impacting around 150 employees.

February 2024

Plans to lay off 15% of its workforce and says it likely does not have enough cash on hand to survive the next 12 months.

Cut 5% of its workforce , impacting 670 employees, as it moves away from the “development of future licensed IP.”

Is letting go of about 350 employees, accounting for 30% of its workforce.

Is likely cutting hundreds of employees who worked on the company’s autonomous electric car project now that the effort has stopped, TechCrunch has learned.

Is laying off 900 employees from its PlayStation unit, affecting 8% of the division’s workforce. Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla and Firesprite studios will also be impacted .

Will reportedly cut 1,500 roles in 2024 , primarily in its Product & Technology division, accounting for more than 8% of the company’s workforce.

Eliminated roughly 60 employees , or 17% of its workforce. It’s the financial startup’s third major layoff round in the past 12 months.

Is laying off 10% of its salaried workforce in a bid to cut costs in an increasingly tough market for EVs.

Meati Foods

Will lay off 13% of its workforce as it works to “build a financially sustainable business,” CEO Phil Graves told TechCrunch exclusively .

Announced it will eliminate 5% of its employees, impacting more than 4,000 people .

Will lay off about 550 workers in a move designed to promote “operating expense efficiency.”

Announced in an SEC filing that it will lay off roughly 250 employees as part of a restructuring effort.

Is scaling back its investment in a number of products, TechCrunch has learned, resulting in layoffs that will affect roughly 60 employees .

Is laying off 230 employees worldwide as part of the company’s efforts to advance its focus on “the AI-enabled workplace of the future.”

Is cutting 30% of its North American workforce as part of a restructuring.

Is reportedly cutting jobs in its healthcare businesses One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy. The number of impacted roles is currently unknown.

Announced plans to eliminate 6% of its workforce , largely impacting the company’s sales and marketing divisions.

Announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce , impacting roughly 500-plus employees, in an effort to “reduce hierarchy.”

Polygon Labs

Has laid off 60 employees , or about 19% of its staff, CEO Marc Boiron announced in a blog post .

Is laying off approximately 400 employees . The layoffs come almost exactly a year to the day after Okta announced plans to cut about 300 employees.

January 2024

Will lay off 95 workers in New York City, according to a filing with the New York Department of Labor.

Is laying off about 6% of its global workforce , or 280 employees, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.

Conducted another round of layoffs earlier this month, amounting to roughly 15% of its workforce, a source familiar with the situation told TechCrunch. 

Is reportedly laying off around 1,000 people in the Cash App, foundational and Square arms of Block.

Has reportedly begun company-wide layoffs . While it is unclear how many people will be affected, one source told TechCrunch it was expected to be in the “thousands.”

Aurora Solar

Has laid off 20% of its staff of about 1,000 people, TechCrunch exclusively learned. The cuts to the software startup come despite record growth in the solar industry last year.

Is laying off 350 people , or one-third of its headcount, after Amazon’s bid to acquire the Roomba-maker shuttered. Longtime CEO Colin Angle has also stepped down.

Is reportedly laying off 700 workers , or around 1% of its staff. This comes after the company had a significant reduction of 10% of its workforce in 2023.

Is reportedly planning to cut around 20% of its staff in the next few weeks. The company announced similar cuts in October, when founder Ryan Petersen returned as CEO and slashed its workforce by 20%.

Is laying off 1,900 employees across its gaming divisions following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra announced he will also be stepping down.

Is cutting about 400 jobs , 7% of its workforce, as the food delivery startup seeks to bring further improvements to its finances ahead of a planned IPO later this year.

Laid off dozens of workers , according to sources familiar with the decision. The autonomous vehicle technology company has since confirmed that about 3% of its workforce has been laid off.

Will lay off 9% of the company’s workforce , affecting about 1,000 full-time employees. In a blog post , the company also plans to cut contract roles in the coming months.

Announced it intends to offer voluntary buyouts or job changes to 8,000 employees amid restructuring.

Laid off 20% of its staff , affecting 282 workers. In a blog post , Co-CEO Pedro Franceschi said that the company is prioritizing “long-term thinking and ownership over short-term gains in our comp structure.”

Eliminated around 60 jobs across the U.S. in Los Angeles, New York, and Austin in addition to layoffs in international markets. The affected roles, according to NPR’s initial reporting, are largely in sales and advertising.

Is cutting 90% of its employees as it shuts down its online used car marketplace and shifts resources into two business units: one focused on auto financing and the other on AI-powered analytics.

Is laying off 11% of its workforce , affecting about 530 employees, as the company focuses on “fewer, high-impact projects.” The League of Legends maker is also sunsetting its five-year-old publishing group , Riot Forge.

Is eliminating 13% of its global workforce , affecting 1,650 employees, in a restructuring effort aimed at cutting layers of management.

Will eliminate 100 employees , a spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch, as part of a restructuring effort in its creator management and operations teams.

Is laying off “hundreds” of employees in its advertising sales team, according to a leaked memo. The cuts come a week after the company did sweeping layoffs across its hardware teams. And more layoffs will come throughout the year, as CEO Sundar Pichai told the company in a memo obtained by the Verge .

Lost Boys Interactive

Reportedly laid off a “sizable” number of employees January 12. The game developer studio was acquired by Borderlands maker Gearbox in 2022.

Is going to lay off employees in 2024, TechCrunch exclusively learned , with the total impacted employees potentially reaching as high as 20% of the animation studio’s 1,300 person workforce. The cutbacks come as Disney looks to reduce the studio’s output as it struggles to achieve profitability in streaming.

Is laying off 5% of its workforce , citing an “increasingly challenging landscape,” according to a leaked memo obtained by Business Insider.

Is laying off 17% of its staff , impacting 170 people. In an internal memo obtained by the Verge , Discord CEO Jason Citron blamed the cuts on the company growing too quickly.

Laid off hundreds of employees across its Google Assistant division and the team that manages Pixel, Nest and Fitbit hardware. The company confirmed to TechCrunch that Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman are also exiting.

Is laying off “several hundreds” of employees at Prime Video and MGM Studios, according to a memo obtained by TechCrunch. The cuts come days after the 500 layoffs at Amazon’s Twitch .

Is reportedly laying off 500 employees , 35% of its current staff, amid a continued struggle to achieve profitability in the face of rising costs and community backlash. The pending layoffs come after hundreds more employees were laid off in 2023.

Treasure Financial

Confirmed to TechCunch that layoffs, conducted in December, had impacted 14 employees, accounting for 60% to 70% of the company, according to multiple sources.

Confirmed it cut 10% of its contractor workforce at the end of 2023 as it turns to AI to streamline content production and translations previously handled by humans.

Rent the Runway

Will cut about 10% of corporate roles as it goes through a restructuring plan following Anushka Salinas’ planned resignation as operating chief and president at the end of January.

Is reducing its workforce by about 25% , or 1,800 people. The video game engine maker went through three rounds of layoffs in 2023.

Laid off two-thirds of its employees as the German startup, which built collaborative presentation software, looks to pursue a “completely different path.” CEO and co-founder Christian Reber also stepped down.

The AI and biomedical startup reportedly cut 17% of its workforce January 8, citing “shifts in the economic environment,” in a LinkedIn post announcing the layoffs. 

Eliminated 38% of its staff January 8 as the online retail logistics company follows up after conducting layoffs in September 2023.

Announced January 8 it is laying off 28% of its staff , or 154 workers, as the small modular nuclear reactor company shifts its focus to “key strategic areas.”

Is reportedly laying off 15% of its workforce focused on computer vision for retailers.

Is shutting down at the end of 2024 after a 12 year run. The design collaboration startup was once valued at nearly $2B.

Is laying off nearly 20% of its workforce as it tries to maintain its battle with Nielsen over media measurement. CEO Ross McCray stepped down from the company.

Orca Security

Is laying off roughly 15% of its staff , totaling 60 employees. The Israel-based unicorn reportedly plans to move some impacted employees into other positions at the company.

Laid off its entire 200-person workforce January 2 after attempts to raise more capital failed, TechCrunch exclusively learned . The mass layoff comes just seven months after the startup acquired rival Zencity . 

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