In an announcement yesterday (Wednesday 23rd March), job search platform Indeed outlined its plan to cut 15 percent of its workforce.

The cuts are expected to affect around 2,200 jobs.

According to the CEO, Chris Hyams, it is necessary to reduce their workforce because job openings are at below pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Hyams himself is taking a 25 percent cut in base pay.

In a message shared with Indeed employees yesterday, Mr Hyams wrote: “I am heartbroken to share that 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.”

Who will be impacted?

The cuts will impact most teams, functions and levels at the company says the CEO.

Details of severance packages were also outlined in the message, stating that affected employees will receive 16 weeks of base salary pay, or two weeks for every year of service, whichever is greater.

What happened to Indeed?

In the message to employees, Mr Hyams stated that last quarter, US total job openings were down 3.5 percent. He also said that “sponsored job volumes were down 33 percent.”

“In the US, we are expecting job openings will likely decrease to pre-pandemic levels of about 7.5 million, or even lower over the next two to three years,” he added.

Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.