New Delhi,  January 15: Microsoft is reportedly putting a pause on hiring in part of its consulting business in the United States. The decision comes as the company assesses its spending and streamlines operations. According to reports, this pause in hiring is said to be a cost-cutting strategy within Microsoft’s US operations. The tech giant might be looking to streamline its financial resources to be directed efficiently.

As per a report of CNBC, Microsoft plans to pause hiring in part of its consulting business in the US, citing an internal memo. The pause in hiring by Microsoft came a week after the company revealed plans to lay off some employees, which will likely impact less than 1% of its workforce. Microsoft AutoGen 4.0: Tech Giant Unveils Reimagined Library for Advanced Agentic AI Systems, Promises Improved Scalability, Code Quality and Robustness.

Reports indicate that Microsoft's consulting business division plans to reduce its marketing and non-billable external resource spending by 35%. The hiring freeze can be seen as an initiative to reduce costs across the organisation. Microsoft has also indicated to continue to invest in artificial intelligence.

Microsoft’s consulting division has decided to pause hiring for new employees and refrain from back-filling existing roles, as reportedly outlined in a memo from consulting executive Derek Danois to employees. The memo also emphasises that employees should not expense travel for internal meetings, encouraging the use of remote sessions instead. Additionally, any trips to customer sites will require authorisation from executives to ensure that spending is directed towards the right customers. Microsoft Layoffs: No Plans To Lay Off Employees in India, Says Company’s South Asia Head Amid Reports of Job Cuts Across Departments Globally.

As per reports, Microsoft's consulting division has experienced slower growth compared to the company's productivity software subscriptions and Azure cloud computing businesses. In the September quarter, the consulting unit generated USD 1.9 billion, which reflects a decline of approximately 1% from the same period a year earlier. However, Azure saw a growth rate of 33%. The changes implemented by the US consulting division are reportedly to align with the policies set by the Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions organisation, which has approximately 60,000 employees.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 15, 2025 03:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).