LinkedIn has today said that it will cut 960 jobs or 6 per cent of its global workforce. The company boasts about 16,000 employees who work across 30 countries the company has operations in. The cuts are as a result of the COVID-19 crunch that has strained its recruitment products and slowed down corporate operations.
Thousands of Employers across the globe use the LinkedIn platform on a daily basis to find suitable candidates for jobs and by employees to search for new jobs.
“After weeks of discussion and deliberation, the executive team and I have made the extremely difficult decision to reduce approximately 960 roles, or about 6 per cent of our employee base, across our Global Sales and Talent Acquisition organizations. I’m sharing this news today so that everyone has the complete picture of these changes and why we are making them, and I want you to know these are the only layoffs we are planning” said the company Chief Executive Ryan Roslansky in a message
he adds that the company would provide at least 10 weeks of severance pay as well as health insurance for a year for U.S. employees.
Affected staff, who have not yet been told, would be able to keep company-issued cell phones, laptops, and recently purchased equipment to help them work from home while making career transitions, he said.
LinkedIn joins other multinational companies like Uber, who have also been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic leading to massive layoffs. As lockdowns continue to hit businesses around the world, LinkedIn’s business has been hit as companies lay off staff or sharply curtail hiring.
Roslansky says, ” LinkedIn is not immune to the effects of the global pandemic. Our Talent Solutions business continues to be impacted as fewer companies, including ours, need to hire at the same volume they did previously.”
LinkedIn said employees affected by its job cuts will be informed this week and they will start receiving invitations in the next few hours to meetings to learn more about next steps.
Roslansky added that, “LinkedIn would be investing in other parts of the business which would result in some job creation and the firm would work with employees impacted by today’s announcement the first considerations to explore the opportunities”.
