Oracle Lays Off Hundreds of Employees in its Health Unit Cerner: Report 

In the midst of workforce reduction in the IT industry Oracle, a US-based tech giant also jumped into the game. Oracle has recently made significant layoffs in its health unit, Cerner. Cerner Corporation is a specialist company in health technology services and hardware, an healthcare records firm that was acquired by Oracle for $28.3 billion in December last year.

Why is Oracle laying off employees from its health unit?

The layoffs, made on 16 June, reportedly affected hundreds of employees and the reason behind this decision is said to be the challenges Cerner has been facing while working with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. It was a project in which Cerner was supposed to replace the Veterans Affairs' in-house medical records with advanced technology. The project was solely intended to modernize medical records but was besieged by delays and over cost. These setbacks of Cerner compelled Oracle to shift its focus towards other IT healthcare businesses which resulted in these layoffs.

Although there are no official announcements released yet by the company, it is being stated that the affected employees will be provided with proper assistance and severance packages.

Even last month Oracle laid off approximately 3000 of its employees from Cerner, which was from different departments such as marketing, engineering, product management, accounts, and legal team. It has also made harsh decisions like freezing of promotions and raises for this year.

These actions of Oracle were not something unexpected for the IT industry as job cuts are a  new trend. Similar actions were also taken by other big names in the industry as Meta, Google, Twitter, and Netflix this year. This trend is attributed to the economic slowdown, global politics, rising inflation, and many other factors. The tech industry is subjected to immense pressure right now which they are trying to overcome through resource optimization and cost reduction.

Conclusion

As companies in IT industries are thriving towards efficiency, strategic realignments, and long-term sustainability in the market, these recent job cuts have risen as a major concern for employees in the industry. The constant development of the industry should also keep a check of its employees' work security, and satisfaction. The issues raised depict how it is essential to strike a balance between addressing project hurdles and prioritizing the well-being of the workforce.

The article has been written by Punam Singh