{"id":2688,"date":"2026-10-15T08:34:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T08:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/15\/zoho-avoids-layoffs-ai-pressure-2030\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T08:34:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T08:34:26","slug":"zoho-avoids-layoffs-ai-pressure-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/15\/zoho-avoids-layoffs-ai-pressure-2030\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoho vows to avoid layoffs despite AI cost pressure, looks to 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Zoho founder and chief executive Sridhar Vembu has publicly acknowledged that his home\u2011grown software\u2011as\u2011a\u2011service (SaaS) firm is feeling financial strain as artificial\u2011intelligence (AI) technologies drive up operating expenses. While competitors have turned to workforce reductions, Vembu said Zoho will keep its employees and instead invest in upskilling them for new product roles and customer\u2011support functions.<\/p>\n<h2>Contrast with rival Airtable\u2019s layoff announcement<\/h2>\n<p>Vembu\u2019s comments came after Airtable, a spreadsheet\u2011and\u2011database platform now owned by Bending Spoons, announced a sizable layoff. The product leader at Bending Spoons, Federico Simionato, posted on X that Airtable would be \u201claying off a large part of the Airtable team,\u201d describing the move as a shift toward smaller teams that ship more efficiently. The acquisition of Airtable for $1.28\u202fbillion in August this year preceded the layoff notice, though the exact number of jobs affected was not disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>Vembu highlighted that such reductions are \u201cnormal in SaaS\u201d but emphasized that Zoho has deliberately chosen a different path. He argued that firing workers simply because AI can increase productivity would be a short\u2011sighted response, and that the company\u2019s strategy is to retrain staff so they can contribute to new products or improve customer outcomes.<\/p>\n<h2>Internal cost\u2011saving measures at Zoho<\/h2>\n<p>In a separate X post a few days earlier, Vembu said Zoho was working to avoid mass layoffs despite mounting cost pressures. He confirmed that the firm had cancelled its annual performance appraisals and told employees that the usual pay increase would not be provided this year. The decision reflects rising expenses tied to data\u2011centre operations and AI\u2011related infrastructure, which Vembu described as \u201ca lot of pressure on the cost side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite those pressures, Vembu noted that Zoho\u2019s business continues to grow. He contrasted Zoho\u2019s approach with that of many venture\u2011capital\u2011backed and publicly listed tech firms that have opted for workforce cuts. By choosing to retain staff and focus on retraining, Zoho aims to position itself for longer\u2011term competitiveness in an AI\u2011driven market.<\/p>\n<h2>Long\u2011term outlook and industry context<\/h2>\n<p>Vembu said the impact of Zoho\u2019s strategy may only become clear by the end of the decade, stating \u201cwe will see in 2030.\u201d He has previously spoken about a plan to \u201creinvent\u201d Zoho for the AI era, a transformation he expects to unfold over the next five years. The company has not added to its headcount in the past 18 months and has trimmed its marketing budget, indicating a disciplined approach to cost management while preserving talent.<\/p>\n<p>The broader technology sector is experiencing a wave of layoffs. Major players such as Microsoft, Meta, Oracle and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have collectively dismissed thousands of employees in recent months. According to the layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi, more than 131,000 tech workers lost their jobs in 2026 alone. Netflix, the streaming giant, recently announced cuts affecting roughly 1,000 staff members.<\/p>\n<p>Against this backdrop, Zoho\u2019s decision to forego layoffs stands out as a divergent tactic. By emphasizing employee retraining rather than reduction, the company signals confidence in its growth trajectory and a belief that a skilled workforce will be essential for delivering AI\u2011enhanced products and services in the years ahead.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu says the company will retrain staff instead of cutting jobs as AI-driven costs rise, with results expected by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[230,1488,2969,2503,2968],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ai","tag-layoffs","tag-saas","tag-tech-industry","tag-zoho","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}