Tech layoffs continue with PayPal, NetApp, WorkDay
“These moves are not the result of over-hiring and, in fact, we plan to increase the size of our global workforce in FY24.” WorkDay co-CEOs Aneel Bhusri and Carl Eschenbach
San Jose digital payments company PayPal told employees Tuesday that it would lay off 2,000 employees, about 7% of the company’s workforce, as rolling cuts continue to hit the Bay Area tech industry.
The cuts were announced the same day that San Jose-based cloud software company NetApp said it would cut 8% of its workforce, Reuters reported, while the CEOs of Pleasanton business organization software company WorkDay said in a securities filing that 3% of its employees would lose their jobs.
The California Employment Development Department said in an email it had not received official notices of layoffs at any of the three companies. Businesses are required to notify the state when they go through with layoffs of a certain size, although they sometimes push out actual layoff dates and file the notices after a layoff announcement.
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman told employees in a note that the job cuts would take effect in the coming weeks and promised generous departure packages, among other benefits.
“While we have made substantial progress in right-sizing our cost structure, and focused our resources on our core strategic
priorities, we have more work to do,” Schulman wrote.
Tech companies, including Salesforce and Google, have slashed thousands of jobs in recent weeks, some of them pointing to hiring sprees during a hot job market earlier in the pandemic that have left them top heavy during the economic slowdown.
In an emailed statement, NetApp public relations director Kenya Hayes said the company “deeply valued” its employees and their contributions, “however, pressures of the macroeconomic environment, including significant impacts to the tech industry, have resulted in the need for organizational restructuring.”
PayPal, whose founders and early investors included Elon Musk, Keith Rabois and Peter Thiel, announced early last year it would shutter its San Francisco offices at 425 Market St., citing a move to a flexible working policy during the pandemic.
Economists have pointed to relatively steady state and local unemployment rates as evidence that, despite seemingly daily layoff news, the cuts are not leaving affected people unemployed long term, and that jobs are available, if not as plentiful as this time last year.
Despite many companies pointing to over-hiring during the pandemic, creating the need for layoffs, WorkDay said that was not the driving force behind its decision.
“These moves are not the result of over-hiring and, in fact, we plan to increase the size of our global workforce in FY24,” co-CEOs Aneel Bhusri and Carl Eschenbach wrote in their note to employees and investors.