In its second round of layoffs this year, LinkedIn has released 668 employees across its finance, engineering, talent and product teams. The announcement comes after a group of LinkedIn employees found an internal list that contained names of about 500 employees on GroupID, a tool the company uses to create and manage lists.
The list, which was titled “OctoberUpdate,” started circulating over the weekend after an employee noticed its existence on GroupID. Hours later, LinkedIn confirmed the layoffs in a press release on Oct. 16, impacting the employees who spotted their names on the list.
“Talent changes are a difficult, but necessary and regular part of managing our business,” said LinkedIn in the press release.
According to Insider, in an email that was sent to LinkedIn employees, the company "did not expect to share this important update."
In May of this year, LinkedIn laid off over 700 employees, citing its new Global Business Organization and China strategy as the reason for its cut in staffing. The new changes are a response to shifts in customer behavior and slower revenue growth.
“We’ve learned we need to re-organize for greater agility and growth in FY24 and beyond and are focused on three themes – reorganizing how work gets done, becoming more agile, and aligning our teams for growth.” said LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky in a letter on May 8.
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LinkedIn’s China strategy focuses on helping companies that operate in China with hiring, marketing and training overseas. The new strategy also led the company to phase out its local jobs app, InCareer, in August.
The company’s current layoffs also come after it announced earlier this month its reimagined vision for the future of hiring. It recently rolled out details of its upcoming artificial intelligence-based tool that will help recruiters source out candidates for job positions.
With the help of AI, recruiters will be able to create projects, job posts and search for candidates with recommendations from the tool and even use it to send InMail to potential candidates. The company plans to announce the tool’s additional features and capabilities over the next year.
