On a day when thousands of tech workers found out their jobs are in jeopardy, Santa Clara County wants the public to know there's health care options when their severance plan runs out.
With Microsoft announcing 10,000 layoffs, about four dozen of those in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, Amazon is planning to lay off 18,000 employees.
Tech workers all over the Bay Area are understandably nervous.
Layoffs was a top trending topic on Twitter Wednesday Santa Clara County, in the heart of Silicon Valley, said it wants to soften the landing for those who lose their jobs.
"Many of the people getting laid off are young tech workers and they've never had to deal with an abrupt loss of income or a loss in health insurance,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
Focusing on health insurance, Santa Clara County is pointing laid off workers to Covered California.
"And that would provide access to a very comprehensive group of hospitals and clinics, and that's another way we can help, that primary care plan is accessible through the Valley Health Plan, and through Valley Medical Center where the enrollment occurs,” said Laura Rosas, CEO of Valley Health Plan.
There are more tech jobs available. Companies like Aisera of Palo Alto said it like others, it plans to take advantage of cuts at larger companies to hire.
"The top companies I’d say are anything with AI, automation, apply to those companies. While you're doing that, step two is take classes, take some meetups,” said Muddu Sudhakar, CEO of Palo Alto-based Aisera.
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A lot of these layoffs come because of fear, fear that tech companies grew too quickly over the last few years, and fear that consumers, jittery about inflation, will cut back on their spending.
Santa Clara County's hope is that those facing layoffs will have one less thing to worry about healthcare.
