Microsoft is freezing hiring except in some unspecified 'strategic areas'

• Microsoft is "temporarily pausing recruitment" for some roles amid uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis, the company confirmed Tuesday.
• It's still hiring for "certain strategic areas," a spokesperson said, but declined to disclose which teams or roles that might refer to.
• Employees who spoke to Business Insider said the company is still hiring within its Azure cloud business and "prioritizing consumer-facing and critical roles."
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Microsoft is freezing hiring for some roles, citing uncertainty related to the coronavirus crisis, the company confirmed on Tuesday, except in unspecified "strategic areas."

"We continue to seek industry-leading talent in a range of disciplines as we continue to invest in certain strategic areas," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "However, in light of the uncertainties presented by COVID-19, we are temporarily pausing recruitment for other roles."

Microsoft declined to provide more information about for which positions it's still hiring, and which roles are seeing a pause in hiring.

According to employees who spoke with Business Insider, Microsoft is still hiring for roles within its massive cloud computing business, and the company was holding virtual hiring events for software engineers as recently as last week. Some groups, one employee said, are "prioritizing consumer-facing and critical roles."

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn also enacted a companywide pause on new hires, according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider.

The coronavirus will likely cause hiring freezes and layoffs across many industries, according to experts.

Microsoft has more than 150,000 employees. Microsoft has handled the coronavirus crisis internally by mandating that most of its US employees to work from home "until further notice," streaming company-wide town halls from executives' homes, expanding benefits like paid leave for parents, and even delivering food and medications to employee homes.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is seeing a huge surge of new customers because of the crisis. The company, for example, clocked a 775 percent spike in usage of its Teams chat app in an area of Italy that implemented a lockdown.

With all those new users have come issues with capacity. In response, Microsoft said it will place a "few temporary restrictions" for Azure customers, such as limits on free offers and "certain resources" for new subscriptions.

Are you a Microsoft employee? Contact this reporter via email at astewart@businessinsider.com, message her on Twitter @ashannstew, or send her a secure message through Signal at 425-344-8242.

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