Job site Indeed cuts 8% of staff in second layoff in two years
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An undisclosed number of workers in Britain, Ireland and Australia will also be affected, Indeed said.
PHOTO: INDEED
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New York – Indeed Inc will lay off about 1,000 employees, or roughly 8 per cent of its workforce, the job-search website’s second culling in two years as it seeks to simplify its business in a cooling labour market.
The company, based in Austin, Texas, will concentrate the latest round of cuts in the US, with a focus on its research and development (R&D) department and some teams that bring products to customers, chief executive Chris Hyams said in a message to employees on May 13.
An undisclosed number of workers in Britain, Ireland and Australia will also be affected, Indeed said.
The unit of Japan’s Recruit Holdings is “significantly restructuring” the R&D team, reducing layers of management and eliminating most of the sales and customer support roles at its site in Foster City, California, Mr Hyams said.
The cuts come after Indeed slashed 2,200 positions in 2023 in a bid to trim costs amid slowing revenue. By contrast, the new reductions aim to reduce organisational bloat and speed up decision-making. The company will also pay out more in severance for “most employees” this time around, Mr Hyams said.
US employers in April dialled back hiring while the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose, signs that the labour market may be cooling. Indeed’s move also echoes drives by Meta Platforms and other companies to become less top-heavy.
The Verge reported that during an internal question-and-answer session, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg lamented “managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work”.
Middle managers – defined as non-executives who oversee employees – accounted for almost a third of layoffs in 2023, up from 20 per cent in 2018, according to an analysis by Live Data Technologies for Bloomberg News.
But cutting middle managers can backfire, as they are often responsible for providing direction and support for entry-level hires.
A recent book by three partners at McKinsey & Co argued that middle managers play an “often-overlooked” role in instilling collaboration and creativity at their firms, a task that is more challenging than ever in today’s era of remote and asynchronous work.
Ms Samantha LaBonne, a senior client success specialist at Indeed, said in a LinkedIn post that she just returned from parental leave “to be welcomed with a round of layoffs”.
While she was not impacted, “it’s a sad day to come back to work”, she said. BLOOMBERG
