Tech Layoffs: LinkedIn slashes 716 workers, to shut down China app

In March this year, IT giant Microsoft revealed its significant employment layoffs. Now, the Microsoft-owned professional networking site LinkedIn has joined the list of organizations announcing layoffs.

LinkedIn has stated that it would slash 716 positions and is also closing down its China-focused job application. The professional networking platform has over 20,000 workers and its income has also risen in each quarter last year. In a Letter to its staff, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky claimed that the decision to eliminate roles within the sales, operations, and support teams is meant to simplify the company's operations. By doing so, the organization intends to reduce needless layers and make speedier judgments.

LinkedIn pulling down China app

Apart from the layoff news, the Microsoft-owned platform also stated that it is phasing down its China app. The firm claimed that it was deleting and reducing down the employment app that it provides in China after it opted to leave from the nation in 2021 citing the tough climate. The business also noted that the China app of the company named InCareers would be phased off by August 9.

"After considerable thought, we've taken the decision to end InCareer effective August 9, 2023. Despite our early success, InCareer faced tough competition and a hard macroeconomic situation, which finally led us to the choice of suspending the service," noted LinkedIn on its website.

"LinkedIn will continue to have a presence in China and will focus on assisting companies operating in China to access economic opportunity through our Talent and Marketing solutions, and later this year through our Learning Solutions," continued the company.

Read the whole letter LinkedIn CEO issued to its workers

Team,

Last week, we celebrated our 20th birthday by reflecting on the pride we all have in the business we’ve established, and looked forward to the opportunity and responsibility we have in front of us. Over the years we've had to make hard choices to guarantee we were putting the firm up to execute on our goal, and I'm revealing one of those decisions today. As we manage LinkedIn through this quickly shifting environment, we are implementing adjustments to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of jobs for 716 workers.

Our employees who are touched by this news have all made vital contributions to our organization. I want to highlight the effect this choice has on the lives of those persons. And I want all of you to know that the whole leadership team and I am determined to aiding our colleagues through this transition and ensuring that they are treated with the care and respect they deserve.

If your job is directly affected by this decision, you will get a calendar invitation within the next hour for a meeting with a leader from your team and a representative from our Global Talent Organization (GTO).

Why are we making these changes?

As you heard from James in our results review, while we’re making tremendous progress providing economic possibilities for our members and customers and enjoying record engagement on the platform, we’re also witnessing adjustments in consumer behavior and slower revenue growth. In a shifting market, we must continually have the confidence to adjust our approach in order to make our vision a reality.

First, we’ll be refocusing our Global Business Organization for the next phase of development. Based on the cycle stated above, we’ve realized we need to re-organize for more agility and growth in FY24 and beyond and are concentrating on three topics — rearranging how work gets done, being more agile, and aligning our teams for growth.

Reorganizing how work gets done: this entails bringing teams together in a more integrated style to better service customers. Also, to expedite our ease of doing business efforts, our Product & Engineering teams will assume the lead for our technology roadmap, and the Business Productivity team will be sunsetted, with certain components being blended into other portions of MCS or comparable teams inside GTMOps.

Becoming more agile: with the market and customer demand varying more, and to service new and growing markets more efficiently, we are extending the usage of suppliers. We are also cutting layers, decreasing management positions and extending responsibilities to make choices more rapidly.

Aligning our teams for growth: to invest in chances for profitable development and grab share despite the present cycle, we are ensuring we have the correct positions for the job necessary. This comprises both cutting jobs, and it also includes opening up more than 250 new opportunities in key sectors of our operations, new business and account management teams beginning on May 15.

If you are in GBO, you will soon be getting an email from Dan Shapero and your local GBO leader further outlining the changes.

Second, we’ll concentrate our China Business on our Go Global plan

We’ll concentrate our China approach on aiding enterprises operating in China to employ, advertise, and train internationally. This will entail retaining our Talent, Marketing, and Learning businesses, while phasing down InCareer, our local employment app in China, by August 9, 2023. Though InCareer achieved considerable success in the last year owing to our excellent China-based staff, it also met stiff competition and a hard financial backdrop. Mohak and Jian will host an all hands conference with our China-based colleagues in the coming hours to explore the ramifications of these changes, including the cessation of product and engineering teams in China and the reduction of corporate, sales, and marketing roles.

While these choices are vital for our company, they also mean that some of our coworkers will be departing LinkedIn for other opportunities. We are dedicated to offering our full assistance to anyone affected. U.S. benefit-eligible workers will get a range of perks including severance money, continued health coverage, and career transition assistance. Benefits for workers outside the U.S. will conform with the employment laws and local norms in each nation. For both our GBO and China workers, we have an internal mobility procedure for affected team members to assist locate a new career if there’s a talent match.

FY24 and Beyond

As we reach 20, we are entering a new decade for LinkedIn, one that may arguably be the most momentous we’ve experienced to far. AI is only starting to accelerate changes in the global economy and labor market, and LinkedIn is more critical than ever to assist our members and clients manage the changes to access economic opportunities.

As we prepare for FY24, we’re anticipating the macro climate to continue tough. We’re adjusting as we have done this year and will continue to operate with the ambition we need to execute on our mission and the pragmatism necessary to manage the company successfully. We will continue to limit our spending while we invest in key growth areas, understanding that the foundations we are putting in place today - for innovation, agility and scalability - are setting us up for the years ahead.

Our emphasis during the next week is on helping our affected employees. We are bidding farewell to outstanding employees, and any organization will be lucky to have them.

Then, like we do every 2 weeks, we will gather together at Company Connect to discuss the future as we prepare to present our FY24 strategy in the approaching weeks.