Microsoft denies hiring freeze

12:37 8th October 2008

Microsoft has denied that it has instituted a hiring freeze, despite an internal memo indicating the move.

Some of the multi-national technology corporation's employees reportedly received a note saying that the company was revaluating its staff levels and would not be increasing its numbers.

A re-evaluation of hiring plans could be conceived as a sign that the global economic crisis is taking its toll on the IT industry, particularly after analysts downgraded earnings expectations for a variety of IT vendors this week.

However, Lou Gellos, Microsoft spokesman, refuted these claims and denied any knowledge of the companywide memo.

He said: "This year, we expect lots of growth and that we will hire lots of people. I think the nuance is in the fact that, in light of the economy, it's important that we do the prudent thing and evaluate projects that we're working on."

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that London is to be host to one of three European research centres that the corporation is constructing.