Job search platform Indeed lays off 15% of staff; CEO Chris Hyams says team ‘too big’ for what lies ahead

“With future job openings at or below pre-pandemic levels, our organisation is simply too big for what lies ahead,” said CEO Chris Hyams.

Announcing the job cuts, Hyams said in an email to employees that the firm has focused on preparing the organisation for the future. “I take sole accountability for where we are today. I am deeply and profoundly sorry.” Hyams said he will take a 25% cut in base pay.

“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,” he wrote, adding that there was “no measurably disproportionate impact on women and under-represented genders or the under-represented minority population in the US”.

Elaborating on Indeed’s decision, Hyams said 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%,” he said.

In the US, Indeed expects job openings to likely decrease to pre-pandemic levels of about 7.5 million, or even lower over the next two to three years.

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Also read | Layoffs in 2023: Amazon, Disney, Meta among latest firms to cut jobs amid economic turmoilIndeed will also be instituting “additional cost-saving measures moving forward”, CEO said.

For impacted employees, Indeed will pay 16 weeks of base salary, or two weeks for every year of service, whichever is greater; access to ongoing career placement services for six months and access to ongoing mental health services for twelve months, among others.

“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,” Hyams said.

Indeed has joined the ever-expanding list of companies executing layoffs to cut costs amid rising rates and macroeconomic headwinds. Meta and Amazon are among companies that have announced fresh rounds of layoffs after sacking thousands before.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a blog post that the tech major will slash another 9,000 jobs mostly in Amazon Web Services or AWS, Amazon People eXperience and Technology (PXT), advertising, and Twitch, a live streaming platform for video gamers. Earlier the ecommerce giant in January sacked over 18,000 employees.

Disney will fire at least 4,000 current employees in April, after sacking about 7,000 last month.