Yet another technology firm has become the latest casualty in the “tech wreck” wreaking havoc across the sector amid harsh market conditions.
On Thursday, ASX-listed software firm Xero announced that it was going to reduce its headcount by 700 to 800 roles.
The company’s CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy said the cuts represented 15 per cent of her firm’s total workforce and said she was “deeply sorry to be taking this step”.
Xero, which provides accounting software, has offices globally including in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra, with its head office is in New Zealand.
It’s unclear which roles and offices will be impacted, with the company as yet not revealing the regions or specific job functions.
It comes just days after major software giant Atlassian slashed jobs, along with another software company called Thoughtworks, in bad news for software developers around the country.
Ms Cassidy said Xero had tried to slow down their hiring and headcount but it was “not enough” to save hundreds of roles.
“As we discussed recently, as Xero continued to scale in recent years, we have grown our headcount, areas of focus and cost base at a faster rate than our revenue,” she added.
“Externally the broader tech landscape favoured high growth in this period; internally, we were less clear and measured in the rate of our hiring and investments.”
Indeed, in the last financial year, Xero racked up a staggering $14.8 million in losses, and its overall operating costs were a third more than the previous 12 months.
The cuts are expected to save the company between $25 to $35 million.
Redundant staff will receive a minimum of 12 weeks of pay, as well as career transition support.
An employee assistance program will also be offered three months after staff members have been made redundant.
Staff will also be allowed to keep work laptops.
Eligible employees will receive a short term incentive entitlement while staff on visas will be given up to NZ$1000 (AU$927) in support.
Just two days prior to the announcement, another major software company, Atlassian, also slashed hundreds of jobs.
The Australian technology giant cut 500 roles, which represents five per cent of its total global workforce.
It came just months after Atlassian’s co-founder Scott Farquhar launched a hiring blitz to find 1032 new people for roles mostly in the research and development teams.
Earlier this week, news.com.au also reported on two more companies making staff redundant.
A software firm called Thoughtworks, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, laid off 100 employees, which was four per cent of their number of staff.
ASX-listed healthcare company Healius also cut 500 full-time roles, which was 13 per cent of its employee base.