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CITING “BROADER ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE” as the reason, tech giant Oracle laid off thousands of employees with a simple email sent early on Tuesday morning. When employees prepared to commence their workday and tried to log on to their Slack accounts — the workspace software Oracle uses —  they were shocked to discover that their access had been revoked. On September 15, 2026, at 6 in the morning, around 2,500 Oracle employees received an email that shook their world in an instant — they were informed that today would be their last working day. 

US-based tech firm Oracle began a fresh round of layoffs this month, its second one in 2026, impacting several mid to senior-level employees in web development and maintenance. While Oracle hasn’t officially confirmed the exact numbers as of yet, a report by the Hindustan Times claims that the recent round of layoffs has impacted around 2,500 employees.

This decision comes as the tech firm undergoes a major “organizational shift” and diverts a major chunk of its capital towards developing artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud storage infrastructure. A Bloomberg report stated that Oracle is heavily investing in AI and is expanding its data-center capacity to support cloud and AI workloads, while also trying to reduce payroll and restructuring costs.

See also: Layoff Crisis: 4 in 5 professionals in India looking for new jobs

Amidst this bleak news, several former Oracle employees have taken to social media platforms to share their story about the recent layoffs at the tech firm.

LinkedIn User Shares Husband Got Laid off From Oracle After 12 Years

Sourabh Sahu had all the qualities of a diligent and dedicated employee, his wife Pooja Sahu said. In a LinkedIn post, she shared that her husband, an Oracle employee for over 12 years, was one of the many who found themselves unable to log on to their work accounts on Tuesday morning. “This post is for everyone who works day and night to provide for their families, especially amid visa uncertainty, yet still gives their best every day,” Pooja wrote on LinkedIn post.

She shared that her husband continued to work while she was admitted into a hospital for a surgical procedure. He also managed both his late-night office shift and caring for the couple’s newly-adopted dog who fell ill. Pooja further revealed that her husband worked even during major holidays like Holi, Diwali, and Rakhi, and important celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries.

Even with all the work pressure and being in a constant state of availability, Pooja commented that Sourabh never even complained once and continued his hard work, all with a smile on his face. She further wrote that her husband managed both his work and personal life efficiently and never complained to his friends about his demanding job.

Despite being in the tech industry for over two decades and even being the recipient of an Employee of the Year Award, it did not bring Sourabh the expected job security, and he was laid off with just an email. Pooja ended her post with praising Sourabh’s work ethic and requesting to give him a referral. 

Oracle Layoffs: Stories From Reddit Users

A viral post by a social media user on Reddit has given another perspective on the sudden layoffs at Oracle. The Redditor joked: “time of death: 4am LOL” — referring to the time when they lost access to their Slack work account. In their Reddit post, the user confessed to experiencing several sleepless nights as they feared getting laid off, and on one random Tuesday morning, that fear became a reality. The Redditor commented that they didn't receive any official email about the layoff from Oracle, they instead got logged out of their Slack account at around 4am in the morning and couldn't access their work laptop anymore, which confirmed what they already knew. 

“It's bittersweet. What does it even mean to work for a company that enthusiastically promotes AI while treating its employees like insects? I've genuinely never seen this level of greed, coupled with such a complete lack of empathy and humanity, anywhere,” the Reddit user wrote. 

Another Redditor commented that while Oracle employees were expecting the layoffs, having heard rumors in past few months about the same, they were still left surprised and shocked at how quickly it came. The user shared that they got locked out all their work-related access an hour or so before receiving the official email about the layoffs. They further wrote that they had never received a bad rating from their manager and were given multiple high priority tasks routinely. 

“I tried to make sense of why I was included but gave up on it as nothing made sense from whichever point of view I looked at. I thought I didn't believe in luck but ironically that's the only possible explanation for my situation,” the user wrote in the Reddit post. 

A Wider Pattern Of Layoffs In Tech Amidst AI Boom 

Mass layoffs like this one aren't a strange sight in the technology sector, unfortunately. With the onslaught of artificial intelligence and automation, the tech industry is one of the worst-impacted sectors in terms of job security. Firms are increasingly assimilating AI in their workforce to automate tasks done by humans, leaving thousands out of their jobs. In one infamous case, a CEO of an e-commerce start-up laid off 90% of his workforce after replacing the human customer support team with an AI chatbot.

See also: How The Tables Have Turned: Robots Protest Against AI And Layoffs in Warsaw, Poland; Demand Human Rights and Stronger AI Regulation

In 2026 alone, major business corporations — including Meta, Samsung, Dell, Amazon, Uber, PayPal, Apple Inc., Microsoft, and TikTok — collectively laid off close to 50,000 employees owing to “organizational changes” brought in by AI adoption and assimilation, reported LiveMint in September 2026. The recent and sudden layoffs at Oracle has become the reflection of a truth that is becoming more and more bleak as days go by. 

(Edited by Harsh Pandey)

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