LinkedIn To Lay Off 6 Per Cent Of Its Global Workforce As Hiring, Sales Take A Hit Impacted By COVID

LinkedIn, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, has said that it will be laying off 6 per cent of its global workforce, or 960 jobs owing to the sustained impact of COVID-19 pandemic on its sales and hiring operations.

The decline in demand for hiring by corporates and business establishments owing to the economic slowdown has severely impacted LinkedIn's operations, specially its recruitment products.

Confirming the same, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky in a blog post said, "Our Talent Solutions business continues to be impacted as fewer companies, including ours, need to hire at the same volume they did previously."

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LinkedIn Job Cuts And Changing Dynamics

Not immune to the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn will be cutting jobs across its Global Sales and Talent Acquisitions verticals while syncing its Marketing Solutions (LMS) and Talent Solutions (LTS) business into a single entity to avoid duplicating costly platforms, systems, and tools internally.

Maintaining that these are the only layoffs planned by the company, the CEO said, "The executive team and I have made the extremely difficult decision to reduce approximately 960 roles, or about 6 percent of our employee base, across our Global Sales and Talent Acquisition organizations."

When we took a hard look at the business, we decided we needed to make some hard calls, Roslansky added.

The LinkedIn CEO also hinted at adapting to the changed market dynamics and requirements by shifting to online sales from field sales, which will allow the company to serve the millions of small businesses in a better manner through this pandemic and beyond.

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LinkedIn To Support Affected Personnel

The professional networking site has pledged to help the employees affected by providing a comprehensive financial, healthcare and career support.

The affected staff will be provided with 10 weeks of severance pay as well as health insurance. All departing employees will be allowed to keep LinkedIn cell phones, laptops, and recently purchased equipment to help work from home, so they have the practical tools they need to help with career transitions, Roslansky added.

LinkedIn, however, will be hiring for newly-created roles across the company and provide opportunity to employees impacted by the layoff decision.