MAY 12, 2024 — 8% OR 1,000+ EMPLOYEES TARGETED
A Message from our CEO, Chris Hyams…
I am sad to share the news that we have made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount through a layoff. Unlike last year, where our reduction was driven by cost savings, we are taking this action because we need to simplify our organization to make it easier and faster for us to make decisions, and help us to more effectively grow revenue and hires.
We anticipate that we will be letting approximately 1,000 people go, representing ~8% of the company. While the reductions touch many groups and regions, they are not across the board like last year; rather they are mostly concentrated in the US, and are more focused on R&D and some Go-to-Market teams. We worked closely with the HR, Legal, and DEIB+ teams to ensure objectivity and equity in the decision-making process. The final selections have had no measurably disproportionate impact on women and under-represented genders or the under-represented minority population in the
I am responsible for how we got here, and the entire SLT is responsible for making the difficult decisions necessary to help set us up for the future. We know these decisions will have a significant impact on people’s lives. I’d like to share some context for why I believe it’s necessary.
Last year we were facing a global slowdown in hiring, which led to multiple consecutive quarters of revenue loss. We reduced our headcount, instituted multiple cost-saving measures, and instilled investment discipline across the company. These measures worked, and we are now operating with stable profitability.
However, while the global economy has improved in several areas over the past year, we are not yet set up for sustainable growth. Despite our efforts so far, our organization is still too complex, we still have significant duplication of effort and too many organizational layers that slow down decision-making. We have been working to simplify every aspect of our business, but without meaningful change, we can’t get where we need to go.
At a high level, we are significantly restructuring the R&D team to align with our marketplace strategy, and we are reducing layers of management. We are also restructuring and aligning some Go-to-Market teams, and will be eliminating most of the Sales and CS roles in Foster City, California. Across the business we are making additional changes to simplify decision-making and create clarity.
For those who are staying, I know you will need time to absorb this news. Tomorrow we will have a global town hall where I will share more about the overall org structure. This will be followed by org-specific town halls led by SLT, with opportunities to get answers to your questions. On Wednesday, we will share the updated organization chart for everyone to see.
As difficult as these changes are, our new structure will help us to simplify and work more effectively as one team, reignite growth in revenue, and drive toward our 2030 goal to help 100 million people get jobs.
But today, our focus will be on those who are leaving.
Our mission is vital. Helping people get jobs is a profound privilege. Our work is driven by the deep understanding of just how important a job is in a person’s life. We all know what it means to lose that. For those of you who are leaving, this is incredibly hard. We are committed to bringing as much support to you as possible in the days and weeks ahead. You helped millions of people get jobs, and helped Indeed to be a better place. Thank you.
Chris
APRIL 7, 2023 — Original blog post…
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?
