'Criticism is one thing, and cynicism is quite another.' 'However, we are undaunted by this negativity because we know the truth.'

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is likely to join the list of Big Tech companies going for large-scale layoffs. With this, almost the entire universe of FAANG - acronym for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google - has now come under the layoff turbulence hitting tens of thousands of tech jobs around the world. Reports surfaced on Tuesday about the Mountain View (California)-headquartered tech giant planning to fire around 10,000 employees.

India's traditional PC market, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations declined by 11.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q3CY22 (Jul-Sep) after 8 consecutive quarters of growth despite strong shipments of 3.9 million units, according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. All segments declined except the government, which grew by 91.5 per cent YoY on the back of government orders, leading to strong growth in the third consecutive quarter. While the desktop and workstation categories grew by 23.4 per cent and 17.6 per cent YoY respectively, the notebook category declined by 19.5 per cent YoY.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, summed it up well as he explained the reason for the company sacking 13 per cent of its employees. He said no one predicted that the boom for digital services during the Covid pandemic would die out. "Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended.

Slowing growth and execution challenges for Cognizant (CTSH) may well allow Infosys to overtake the former after a decade. Cognizant had marched ahead of Infosys in terms of revenue in the first quarter of financial year 2012-13. The Nasdaq-listed IT services firm's performance in Q3 and the guidance for Q4 and full-year 2022 suggest that it could take time for Cognizant to see the expected improvement in performance from its decision to restructure.

Google has said that it is pausing enforcement of Google Play billing system (GPBS) for developers in India. This comes after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a penalty of Rs 2,275 crore in two cases and an immediate cease-and-desist order of its policies of running the Android Mobile device and Play Store ecosystem. In a statement, the company said, "Following the CCI's recent ruling, we are pausing enforcement of the requirement for developers to use Google Play's billing system for the purchase of digital goods and services for transactions by users in India.

In the future of work, companies will have to embrace terms like moonlighting, gig work, flexi work as 'on-demand talent in a Cloud' can be a reality, says Milind Lakkad, chief human resource officer of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). In some form or the other, gig work, flexiworking - and even moonlighting - will have to be welcomed by companies, says Lakkad. As a first step towards embracing these, TCS is trying to bring all these opportunities for its own employees within the company.

'This is a race where every technology can be used by the bad guys and good guys.'

The drying up of funds for a number of start-ups is affecting the firms' unicorn status across the globe. The past six months have seen the valuations of 147 unicorns drop, of which 71 were from the US and 29 from China, according to the latest Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2022. Eighty-one unicorns from across the globe saw their valuations drop below $1 billion-the threshold for a start-up to be labelled unicorn-from last year.

Infosys Technologies is being sued again by a former senior employee for discrimination on the basis of age, gender and ethnicity while hiring in the US. The suit filed by Jill Prejean, vice-president of talent acquisition, has alleged that the company discriminated and retaliated when she tried to point out the discriminatory actions. Infosys' motion to dismiss the claims made by Prejean was rejected by a judge from the United States District Court Southern District of New York.

Wipro on Tuesday asked its employees to be in office at least three days a week. It has informed its employees that offices will be open for four days a week, starting October 10. In an e-mail to its employees, Wipro said: "Starting October 10, Wipro's office will be open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays. We will not be open on Wednesdays." The company said in the e-mail, seen by Business Standard, that the move will "help us enjoy the camaraderie and team spirit of connecting in person while maintaining hybrid work flexibility".

India Inc is not in the dark about moonlighting employees. According to a forensic accountant, companies can easily turn to experts and deploy digital tools that can be used to check if an employee is doing a second job or not - reaffirming fears of many who are wary of the practice in the context of the recent sacking of moonlighters by IT major Wipro. Arpinder Singh, global markets and India leader, forensic and integrity services, EY, said that EY had been involved with several companies to gauge moonlighting.

The Indian IT industry recorded 25.2 per cent employee attrition in FY22 and that pain will continue as it loses talent to other industries, said a report by TeamLease. The attrition in the contract staffing industry is predicted to touch at least 50 per cent in FY23 compared to 49 per cent in FY22, said the report called 'Brain Drain: Tackling the great talent exodus in IT sector'. Company policies, payment and work flexibility is making talent move, as non-technology firms step up demand. "Tech talent in non-tech companies will see 3X growth in the coming years, opening up approx 1 million new tech jobs by 2025.

India's largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is mandating its employees to be back in office for three days a week. Teams will have to work with their team leaders, and the human resources team which three day's best suits them. In an email that went out to employees over the past two days, which Business Standard has seen, said: "As part of our return to office initiative, all TCSers are expected to work from office at least three days in a week."

Close to six months since the launch of Tata Neu, the super application (app) from Tata Sons Group is all set for a revamp. The highlights include a reimagined rewards programme or NeuPass, a more seamless user experience by increasing the digital maturity of brands, adding more brands to the platform, and hiring category leaders to drive the next phase of growth. When it comes to brands, Titan will join Tata Neu by Diwali. Tata Motors and Air India will be on board after the Festival of Lights.

Online pharmacy platform Tata 1mg turned a unicorn after raising close to $40 million in a funding round led by Tata Digital, media reports said. The company was yet to comment on the valuations till the time of going to press. 1mg has raised $230.8 million across 16 rounds, including this one.

The IT major will give an anniversary hike for lateral hires as they complete a year at the company. And, these employees were entitled to the annual salary revision that followed the anniversary hikes.

A few days back, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged the start-up community and public to deal in cryptocurrency with caution because everything that was floating around was not currency. In the first week of August, the country's top nine crypto exchange platforms were summoned by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in Hyderabad. The exchanges were questioned for money laundering, especially over a number of Indian non-banking financial companies and their fintech partners for predatory lending practices in violation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and by using tele-callers who misuse personal data and use abusive language to extort high interest rates from the loan takers.

The company's decision may impact new projects, which are likely to get delayed, said sources in the know. Among the IT players that work with Macy's are Accenture, Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Infosys. Macy's is among the top 5-10 clients of these companies.

Online food delivery aggregator Zomato is on an internal rebranding exercise by moving to a multiple chief executive structure for its businesses that will be housed under a larger organisation called Eternal. In an internal message to employees, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Deepinder Goyal said the company is at a stage where it has matured from running a single business to running multiple and large companies. The restructuring is happening after the shareholder approved the Blinkit acquisition.