Job Search Platform Indeed Announces Layoffs Affecting 15% of Its Workforce

Job search platform Indeed has announced layoffs that will impact 2,200 of its employees, which amounts to 15% of its workforce. The decision was announced by CEO Chris Hyams in an all-hands meeting on Monday.

The layoffs come as the job market is expected to continue to cool down, according to a blog post by Hyams. Sponsored job volumes were down 33% YoY in the last quarter, and total job openings were down 3.5%. “With future job openings at or below pre-pandemic levels, our organization is simply too big for what lies ahead,” Hyams wrote. He will take a 25% cut in base pay himself.

Employees were informed about their job status through email within an hour of the announcement, and will receive at least 16 weeks of base salary pay, compensation for accrued PTO, a cash payout for RSUs that haven’t vested, and access to career placement and mental health services. US employees are eligible for four months of health insurance via COBRA. The layoffs have impacted nearly every team, at every function, level, and region.

Hyams assured that the company consulted HR, legal, and DEIB+ teams to ensure that the layoffs did not disproportionately impact underrepresented minorities in the US. The subject lines of the emails sent to employees read “Your Position Has Been Impacted” or “Your Position Has Not Been Impacted.” However, employees in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Japan may still be in limbo due to local regulations.

The announcement by Indeed is part of a wave of layoffs that have hit the tech industry recently. Amazon conducted its second substantial round of layoffs this week, impacting an additional 9,000 employees on top of layoffs that already impacted 18,000 people. Last week, Meta also announced a second round of massive layoffs, planning to cut another 10,000 jobs despite eliminating 11,000 roles in November.