Job site Indeed cuts 2,200 positions as tech sector cools
JOB hiring platform Indeed will cut about 2,200 positions, roughly 15 per cent of its total workforce, joining a cohort of technology companies including Amazon.com and Meta Platforms in culling workers amid economic uncertainty.
The cuts at Indeed will affect “nearly every team”, chief executive officer Chris Hyams wrote in a blog posted on the Austin, Texas-based business’s website on Wednesday (Mar 22). Indeed is owned by Japan-based Internet and staffing company Recruit Holdings. Hyams said the job market will continue to cool after the post-pandemic boom, and that he expects human resources tech revenue to decline in fiscal 2023 and possibly again in 2024.
The tech industry has been decimated in recent months after bulking up during the pandemic when demand surged for electronics and data services as people worked and studied from home. But a slowing economy, and steadily rising interest rates, which makes it more expensive for companies to borrow money, has caused a retrenchment. The collapse of the startup-friendly Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month sent a shock wave through the tech sector and added pressure on an already fragile economy.
Some 500 tech companies have shed more than 150,000 workers this year alone, according to Layoffs.fyi. Earlier this week Amazon said it’s laying off an additional 9,000 employees, adding to cuts that were already the largest round of firings in the company’s history.
Total US job openings were down 3.5 per cent last quarter from a year earlier, Hyams said, while sponsored job volumes were down 33 per cent. In the US, he said, “job openings will likely decrease to pre-pandemic levels of about 7.5 million or even lower over the next two to three years”.
Given that environment, “our organisation is simply too big for what lies ahead”, Hyams wrote. “We have held out longer than many other companies, but the revenue trends are undeniable.”
Hyams said Indeed will be instituting “additional cost-saving measures moving forward”, which he will announce on Thursday, and that he will take a 25 per cent cut in his base pay. BLOOMBERG
Share with us your feedback on BT's products and services
