Hundreds more people are now #OpenToWork on LinkedIn — thanks to LinkedIn. In a recent announcement, the Microsoft-owned professional networking platform LinkedIn revealed plans to lay off 668 employees across its engineering, talent, and finance teams.
The company’s recent decision marks the second round of job cuts for the company this year and coincides with the broader trend of massive job cuts within the tech sector throughout 2023. The layoffs represent over 3% of LinkedIn’s 20,000 employees, according to Reuters.
In the first half of the year alone, the tech industry witnessed 141,516 layoffs — a notable increase from approximately 6,000 a year prior, according to data published by employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
LinkedIn’s revenue growth has also shown some signs of slowing down. In the fourth quarter of its FY23, the company reported a 5% year-on-year revenue increase, a decline from the 10% growth observed in the previous quarter. Parent company Microsoft attributes this slowdown to a combination of reduced hiring activity and a dip in advertising spending.
Despite this, LinkedIn’s member community continues to grow and now draws close to 950 million members, according to Reuters.
The recent layoffs at LinkedIn and within the broader tech industry suggest that larger companies are still streamlining operations and making organizational changes to adapt to updated economic conditions.
According to a recent blog post published by LinkedIn, “While we are adapting our organizational structures and streamlining our decision making, we are continuing to invest in strategic priorities for our future and to ensure we continue to deliver value for our members and customers. We are committed to providing our full support to all impacted employees during this transition and ensuring that they are treated with care and respect.”
While the tech industry has historically been a beacon of innovation and job creation, the layoffs throughout 2023 paint a different picture — suggesting the industry is going through a period of massive adjustment.