The honeymoon is over for pandemic pal Zoom, with the company announcing it will cut 15 per cent of its workforce, some 1,300 jobs.
Despite becoming an “indispensable source of connection for businesses and individuals as well as a globally recognised brand”, according to CEO Eric Yuan, the company, like so many, grew too quickly during the pandemic to have any hope of maintaining its momentum.
“Our trajectory was forever changed during the pandemic when the world faced one of its toughest challenges, and I am proud of the way we mobilised as a company to keep people connected,” Yuan said.
Within two years, Zoom tripled in headcount, Yuan said, admitting, “we didn’t take as much time as we should have to thoroughly analyse our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably, toward the highest priorities.”
Like many of these companies that preach about valuing their employees, Zoom staffers were notified by email.
Yuan also referred to the staffers as ‘zoomies’ throughout, with glib apologies to “those Zoomies waking up to this news or reading this after normal work hours”.
The cute nickname is hardly appropriate when removing thousands of people’s livelihoods.
Yuan does take responsibility for the sackings, sure to be cold comfort to those reading the all-staff missive.
“I am accountable for these mistakes and the actions we take today– and I want to show accountability not just in words but in my own actions,” he said, saying he will reducing his salary for FY24 by 98 per cent, and forgo his FY23 corporate business (which, clearly, he didn’t earn).
Members of Zoom’s executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20 per cent for the coming fiscal year, while also forfeiting their FY23 corporate bonuses.
