Austin-based job site Indeed announces 2,200 layoffs worldwide

Kara Carlson, Austin American-Statesman
·4 min read
Austin-based Indeed announced Wednesday that the company will be laying off about 2,200 employees, or 15% of its workforce. It was not clear if Austin-based workers would be affected.
Austin-based Indeed announced Wednesday that the company will be laying off about 2,200 employees, or 15% of its workforce. It was not clear if Austin-based workers would be affected.

Austin-based job site Indeed.com is laying off 2,200 employees, or roughly 15% of its global team, citing a cooldown in the overall job market and demand for its technology.

The company, which is one of Austin's biggest technology employers, announced the cuts in a blog post of an email sent to employees by Indeed CEO Chris Hyams on Wednesday. Hyams said the cuts come across the company, from nearly every team, function, level and region of the global company. He said the company also will be instituting other cost-saving measures, which he would detail later.

"We focused on preparing the organization for the future, aligning with our strategy and priorities, and reducing duplication of effort and inefficiency," Hyams said.

Indeed's job site acts as a job board and allows users to search for and apply to job postings. The company earns money from other companies' sponsored posts.

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Chris Hyams, CEO of Austin-based Indeed
Chris Hyams, CEO of Austin-based Indeed

The CEO said the cuts come as the job market continues to slow after a recent boom. He estimated U.S. job openings could decrease to pre-pandemic levels of about 7.5 million or lower in the next two to three years.

Hyams said he also is taking a 25% cut in his base pay. He noted that more than 75% of his compensation is tied to Indeed's revenue growth, which is at risk under the current trends.

Hyams said it also is increasingly likely that human resources technology revenue will decline in 2023 and potentially in 2024. At the same time, he said, job openings in the United States were down 3.5% last quarter year-over-year, and sponsored jobs dropped 33%. The company makes money through sponsored job postings.

"With future job openings at or below pre-pandemic levels, our organization is simply too big for what lies ahead. We need clarity, focus and urgency to ensure that all of our energy is directed towards investing in our future," Hyams said. "We have held out longer than many other companies, but the revenue trends are undeniable. So I have decided to act now."

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As of 2020, Indeed had 2,500 employees across five offices in Central Texas.
As of 2020, Indeed had 2,500 employees across five offices in Central Texas.

It was not clear how many Austin-based employees might be affected by the layoffs. The company declined to comment further. As of 2020, Indeed had 2,500 employees across five offices in Central Texas.

Globally, the company has more than 14,600 employees, with other U.S. offices in New York, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as international offices, including in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Tokyo.

Hyams said the company also consulted HR, legal and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging teams during the layoff process to make sure the cuts did not disproportionately affect underrepresented groups in the United States.

The blog post said employees outside of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands and Japan were notified Wednesday through an email. Employees who were let go will be paid through March 31. The blog also said that affected employees will keep their laptops, which will be remotely wiped, and will receive either a January-through-March bonus, or a quota performance, whichever is greater.

As part of a severance package, the company also said laid-off workers will receive 16 weeks of base salary, or two weeks for every year of service, whichever is greater, accrued paid time off, cash payout for restricted stocks scheduled to vest on May 1, access to mental health care for 12 months, and career placement services for six months. U.S.-based employees will also receive four months of COBRA insurance.

Indeed's layoffs come amid a wider trend of layoffs in the technology industry, a pattern that industry experts have said is likely to continue. While it has not been immediately clear how many Central Texas tech workers have been laid off, industry experts say workers in the region is certain to have been affected. Several companies with large Austin workforces, including Google, Austin-based Tesla and Round Rock-based Dell Technologies, have reduced workforces since last summer.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Indeed will lay off 2,200 people, about 15% of employees worldwide