Glassdoor and Indeed layoffs: Job sites slash jobs amid shift toward AI
Yet another company is reducing its workforce amid a broader shift toward artificial intelligence.
Recruit Holdings, which owns the online jobs platforms Glassdoor and Indeed, has announced that it is laying off 1,300 employees in its HR Technology segment. The decision will impact about 6% of jobs on the teams.
The layoffs are primarily in the job search companies’ growth, people and sustainability, and research and development teams, according to a memo seen by Fast Company. Affected employees are primarily U.S.-based but work across several countries.
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for Recruit referred Fast Company to the memo from CEO Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba, which was reported earlier by Reuters and Bloomberg.
In 2023, Indeed laid off about 2,200 employees—15% of its workforce—with another 1,000 jobs cut last year. The current layoff round will see Glassdoor’s operations integrated into Indeed, with the former’s CEO leaving on October 1.
Despite releasing its FY2025 Consolidated Financial Guidance in early May, Recruit stated that the layoffs had “been largely incorporated” into its HR Technology segment outlook.
In the memo, Idekoba sent a clear message about AI’s role in the layoffs: “AI is changing the world, and we must adapt by ensuring our product delivers truly great experiences for job seekers and employers,” he wrote.
Doing the robot dance
Many companies that are going all-in on generative AI have been simultaneously reducing their workforces.
In February, Meta and Workday laid off about 4,000 people and 1,750 people, respectively, in the name of putting their resources toward AI.
April saw Duolingo announce that it would reduce its use of contractors in cases where AI could do the job—a move that months later still attracts negative comments on the company’s social media postings.
AI-related layoffs are also visible at companies outside of the tech industry. Business Insider cut about 21% of its workforce in June while stressing its desire for all employees to regularly use Enterprise ChatGPT.
In some cases, these decisions have been met with regret.
Two years ago, Klarna instituted a hiring freeze to focus on utilizing AI. But its CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, has since announced a hiring spree. “As cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor when organizing this, what you end up having is lower quality,” Siemiatkowski said. “Really investing in the quality of the human support is the way of the future for us.”
This story has been updated with Recruit’s response to our inquiry.
