Scale of Dell job cuts laid bare as firm sheds 10% of staff in a year

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published 27 March 2025

Dell Technologies’ workforce has reduced significantly in recent years, figures show, with headcount at the tech giant dropping by 10% in 2025 alone.

The fall in employee numbers isn't a surprise given Dell announced job losses back in August. Dell Technologies attributed these cuts to its current sharpened focus on AI, with the company reorganizing teams and fueling investment in the technology.

At the time, Dell said it aims to become a "leaner company" — and it really is. The scale of losses at the company was revealed in full detail thanks to an annual report filing, which showed the company had about 108,000 employees as of the end of January.

Dell's headcount in 2024 stood at 120,000 and in 2023 around 133,000, highlighting a 25,000 overall decline in staff numbers in recent years.

"Throughout Fiscal 2025, we remained committed to disciplined cost management in coordination with our ongoing business modernization initiatives and continued to take certain measures to reduce costs, including limitation of external hiring, employee reorganizations, and other actions to align our investments with our announced strategic and customer priorities," Dell said in the filing.

"These actions resulted in a reduction in our overall headcount."

The company said that further job losses were to come as Dell reduces costs by "leveraging new technology" and optimizes business processes. The tech giant said it would continue to reduce operating expenses by limiting external hiring and employee reorganizations.

"We anticipate these actions will result in additional reductions in our overall headcount," the company said.

Dell said its total operating expenses for Fiscal 2025 fell by 4%, led by a 7% decline in "selling, general and administrative", which was largely driven by a decrease in salaries in benefits because of the reduction in overall headcount.

The layoffs come amid employee turmoil at the tech giant. Dell ordered staff back to the office for a minimum of three days a week last year in a move that proved unpopular with employees.

Last month, Dell said any staff that live within an hour commute of an office will be expected to show up five days a week as of this month.

Between the repeated rounds of layoffs and the unpopular RTO mandates, an internal staff survey leaked last year showed overwhelming negative sentiment.

DEI will continue at Dell

Dell also noted in the filing document that it plans to continue its Diversity and Inclusion work, often referred to as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

That comes as many American companies ditch or scale back their DEI efforts — including Google, Meta and Amazon.

Apple was publicly pushed by President Trump to ditch its DEI policies, but instead urged shareholders to vote against that proposal, which they did. Dell also said it would continue with its diversity and inclusion work.

"At Dell Technologies, we believe wide-ranging perspectives are powerful. Our pillar on cultivating inclusion highlights how our human capital resources are vital to serving our customer base, our societal impact, and long-term business success," the company said in its filing.

"We believe that a workforce diverse in experience and background drives innovation and growth — not only is it our competitive advantage, it is critical to meeting future business needs and ensuring that diverse perspectives reflect our global customer base," Dell added in its filing.