Online collaboration developer (opens in a new tab) Atlassian, the company behind the popular project management tool Trello (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab), is the latest company to announce job cuts amid continued global economic pressure.
In a letter to shareholders (opens in a new tab) in February, the company said: "Despite current macroeconomic hurdles, the tremendous opportunities before us remain unchanged, and we stand ready to execute with relentless focus. throughout 2023".
Those headwinds are to blame for the company's announcement in March (opens in a new tab) that 5% of its workforce is leaving the company.
atlassian layoffs
The reduction equates to about 500 workers and is a reasonably modest measure compared to other tech companies that have laid off between 5% and 15% of their employees.
"As a company, we have tremendous growth opportunities ahead of us," say co-CEOs Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, adding that the priority of roles has shifted.
Cloud migrations, ITSM (opens in a new tab) and serving enterprise customers in the cloud were highlighted as key growth areas. Atlassian will "reinvest in roles that best support priorities." It's unclear if the 5% figure represents reuses. At-risk workers will be eligible for any new positions, and the company confirms that it "will offer the opportunity to apply for openings internally through of our internal mobility process".
The affected workers will receive 15 weeks of salary plus one week of salary per year worked in the company, in addition to the unused paid leave. Laid-off staff will also receive six months of medical care for themselves and their families and continued access to the company's EAP. The laptops will also remain the property of former employees, once they are remotely wiped, which is a trend we've seen among other tech companies in recent months.
In keeping with the "Open Company, No BS" theme, Atlassian shared more details with workers and hosted a webinar (opens in a new tab) at the time of the announcement for affected workers to ask questions.