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The company is making changes to become more agile in an ‘evolving market’, while InCareer has faced fierce competition and macroeconomic issues.
LinkedIn has launched another wave of layoffs from its global workforce, cutting 716 staff in a bid to restructure its operations.
The social media platform is also winding down InCareer, its local job finding app in China, as LinkedIn aims to focus its China strategy on helping businesses market abroad.
The job losses are coming from this change and adjustments to LinkedIn’s global business organisation. The company has more than 19,000 staff worldwide, including roughly 2,000 employees in Ireland.
However, LinkedIn began downsizing its global recruitment team in February, which likely impacted its Irish workforce. It is unclear how many Irish staff will be affected by the latest round of job cuts.
In a message to staff, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said the company is making these changes to adapt to an “evolving market”. Despite experiencing “record engagement”, Roslansky said the platform has seen shifts in customer behaviour and slower revenue growth.
“I want all of you to know that the entire leadership team and I are dedicated to helping our colleagues during this transition and ensuring that they are treated with the care and respect they deserve,” Roslansky said.
The changes within LinkedIn include “sunsetting” its business productivity team, with some parts of this team being integrated into other parts of the organisation. LinkedIn is also expanding the use of vendors and reducing management roles in a bid to become more agile.
While cutting jobs, the company will also open more than 250 new roles in “specific segments” of its operations, including new business and account management teams. Roslansky’s message hints at a new focus on AI technology.
“We are entering a new decade for LinkedIn, one that will perhaps be the most consequential we’ve experienced to date,” Roslansky said.
“AI is just beginning to accelerate changes in the global economy and labour market, and LinkedIn is more essential than ever to help our members and customers navigate the changes to access economic opportunity.”
The company’s InCareer app will be shut down by 9 August this year. Roslansky said the app experienced some success, but has also faced “fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate”.
LinkedIn first entered the Chinese market in 2014 and was one of the only major US tech companies operating within the country. But it shut down the Chinese version of its platform in 2021, citing a challenging regulatory environment as the cause.
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