Stamford, Connecticut-based Indeed, a worldwide employment website for job listings, has announced a major 15% reduction in force.
The personnel realignment will impact 2,200 employees.
CEO Chris Hyams noted,
"I am heartbroken to share that I have made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount through layoffs. This is a decision I truly hoped I’d never have to make.
Leading a company whose mission is to help people get jobs, every single day I think about how important a job is in a person’s life. Losing a job is extraordinarily hard, financially and emotionally. For those who will be leaving, we are working to bring as much support as possible to each of you.
We anticipate we will be letting approximately 2,200 people go. This is roughly 15% of our team. The cuts come from nearly every team, function, level and region at Indeed and Indeed Flex. The specific decisions on who and where to cut were extremely difficult, but they were made with great care.
We focused on preparing the organization for the future, aligning with our strategy and priorities, and reducing duplication of effort and inefficiency. We worked closely with the HR, Legal, and DEIB+ teams to ensure objectivity and equity in these decisions. The final selections have had no measurably disproportionate impact on women and under-represented genders or the under-represented minority population in the US."
As we shared at the last Quarterly Update meeting, it is clear the job market will continue to cool after the recent post-COVID boom. It is becoming increasingly likely that HR Tech revenue will decline in FY2023 and potentially again in FY2024. Last quarter, US total job openings were down 3.5% year over year, while sponsored job volumes were down 33%. In the US, we are expecting job openings will likely decrease to pre-pandemic levels of about 7.5 million, or even lower over the next two to three years.
People who work here love Indeed. You pour your hearts and souls into your work. Some of you have been here for more than a decade. It is heartbreaking to see so many incredible people go, through no fault of your own. For those who are leaving, I want to thank each and every one of you for your contributions. You made Indeed a great place to work. You helped millions of people change their lives. We are better because of you.
For those who are staying, I know this will deeply affect all of you. We are incredibly fortunate to have an organization of people who care for each other and will support each other in the days and weeks ahead.
We will need time to process this. But we have so much to do to fulfill our mission of helping people get jobs. We will continue to accelerate our strategy of getting closer to the hire, we will deliver more value to employers through pay for performance, and we will make it even simpler and faster for everyone to get hired. While we’re facing challenging times ahead, I am confident that we will manage through it, and we will come out stronger on the other side.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?