A message from our CEO
Today our CEO shared changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees. He sent the following email to all LinkedIn employees.
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Team,
Last week, we celebrated our 20th birthday by reflecting on the pride we all feel in the company we’ve built, and looking forward to the opportunity and responsibility we have in front of us. Over the years we've had to make hard decisions to ensure we were setting the company up to deliver on our vision, and I'm sharing one of those decisions today. As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees.
Our colleagues who are impacted by this announcement have all made invaluable contributions to our company. I want to recognize the impact this decision has on the lives of those individuals. And 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.
If your role is directly impacted by this decision, you will receive a calendar invitation within the next hour for a meeting with a leader from your team and a representative from our Global Talent Organization (GTO).
Why are we making these changes?
As you heard from James in our earnings recap, while we’re making meaningful progress creating economic opportunities for our members and customers and experiencing record engagement on the platform, we’re also seeing shifts in customer behavior and slower revenue growth. In an evolving market, we must continuously have the conviction to adapt our strategy in order to make our vision a reality.
First, we’ll be refocusing our Global Business Organization for the next phase of growth. Based on the cycle noted above, we’ve learned we need to re-organize for greater agility and growth in FY24 and beyond and are focused on three themes – reorganizing how work gets done, becoming more agile, and aligning our teams for growth.
Reorganizing how work gets done: this involves bringing teams together in a more integrated model to better support customers. Also, to accelerate our ease of doing business work, our Product & Engineering teams will take the lead for our technology roadmap, and the Business Productivity team will be sunsetted, with some components being integrated into other parts of MCS or related teams within GTMOps.
Becoming more agile: with the market and customer demand fluctuating more, and to serve emerging and growth markets more effectively, we are expanding the use of vendors. We are also removing layers, reducing management roles and broadening responsibilities to make decisions more quickly.
Aligning our teams for growth: to invest in opportunities for profitable growth and capture share amidst the current cycle, we are ensuring we have the right roles for the work required. This involves both reducing roles, and it also includes opening up more than 250 new roles in specific segments of our operations, new business and account management teams starting on May 15.
If you are in GBO, you will shortly be receiving an email from Dan Shapero and your respective GBO leader further explaining the changes.
Second, we’ll focus our China Business on our Go Global strategy
We’ll focus our China strategy on assisting companies operating in China to hire, market, and train abroad. This will involve maintaining our Talent, Marketing, and Learning businesses, while phasing out InCareer, our local jobs app in China, by August 9, 2023. Though InCareer experienced some success in the past year thanks to our strong China-based team, it also encountered fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate. Mohak and Jian will convene an all hands meeting with our China-based colleagues in the coming hours to discuss the implications of these changes, including the discontinuation of product and engineering teams in China and the downsizing of corporate, sales, and marketing functions.
While these decisions are essential for our business, they also mean that some of our teammates will be leaving LinkedIn for new opportunities. We are committed to providing our full support to those impacted. U.S. benefit-eligible employees will receive a variety of benefits including severance pay, continuing health coverage, and career transition services. Benefits for employees outside the U.S. will align with the employment laws and local practices in each country. For both our GBO and China employees, we have an internal mobility process for impacted team members to help find a new role if there’s a skill fit.
FY24 and Beyond
As we turn 20, we are entering a new decade for LinkedIn, one that will perhaps be the most consequential we’ve experienced to date. AI is just beginning to accelerate changes in the global economy and labor market, and LinkedIn is more essential than ever to help our members and customers navigate the changes to access economic opportunity.
As we plan for FY24, we’re expecting the macro environment to remain challenging. We’re adapting as we have done this year and will continue to operate with the ambition we need to deliver on our vision and the pragmatism required to run the business well. We will continue to manage our expenses as we invest in strategic growth areas, knowing that the foundations we are putting in place now - for innovation, agility and scale - are setting us up for the years ahead.
Our focus over the next week is on supporting our impacted colleagues. We are saying goodbye to exceptional individuals, and any company will be fortunate to have them.
Then, as we do every 2 weeks, we will come together at Company Connect to discuss the future as we prepare to unveil our FY24 plan in the upcoming weeks.
RR