The collaboration software company follows in the footsteps of big tech companies including Microsoft, Facebook, and Google in cutting staff to position itself for the long term, focusing on cloud migration and IT service management (ITSM). Credit: Thinkstock Australia-based collaboration software company Atlassian, whose products target software developers and project managers, has announced plans to lay off 500 employees, around 5% of its workforce, to focus on enterprise cloud migration issues and IT service management (ITSM). A blog post published Monday and authored by the company’s founders and co-CEOs, Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, said that the company had made the “difficult decision to rebalance our team to better position Atlassian for the long term.” However, the two executives added the move was “different to a financially-driven reduction” as the decision was not a reflection of Atlassian’s own financial performance, rather that the company was instead looking to reinvest in roles that better support the company’s priorities. “As a company, we have massive growth opportunities in front of us, particularly across cloud migrations, ITSM, and serving our enterprise customers in the cloud,” the co-CEOs said. The move follows similar announcements that have been plaguing the global technology industry since the end of 2022 and has seen companies such as Meta, Twitter, Salesforce and Alphabet lay off tens of thousands of employees in order to address issues of over-hiring during the pandemic and ongoing macroeconomic factors. Farquhar and Cannon-Brookes said the teams set to be hit hardest by the cuts are talent acquisition, program management and research. Affected employees will receive 15 weeks salary, plus one week for each year of employment, job-seeking support, and will be allowed to keep their laptops. They will also be able to use internal tools to remain in contact with colleagues until Friday March 10. “We want to be clear these decisions are not a reflection of our teammates’ work,” the co-founders said. “Every single person has made contributions that have changed our company for the better and will leave a lasting impact on their peers and teams. This is about rebalancing the roles we need across Atlassian first and foremost.” In early February 2023, Atlassian posted revenue of $873 million for its second quarter fiscal year 2023, up 27% year-over-year. However, despite an increase in subscription revenue growth, the company still closed the quarter with a $205 million net loss, due mainly to increasing R&D, marketing and sales, and administrative costs. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made on March 6, 2023, Atlassian estimated that during the third quarter of fiscal year 2023, the company will incur approximately $70 million to $75 million in charges in connection with the layoffs. Related content news Strict return-to-work policies may be driving tech workers away In-office mandates aren’t great for employee retention, according to a university study that gathered data from workers at Microsoft, Apple and SpaceX. By Jon Gold May 09, 2024 3 mins Remote Work opinion Apple's worst ad ever? For a marketing company that doubles as a tech company, Apple's latest iPad Pro is incredibly tone-deaf. By Steven Vaughan-Nichols May 09, 2024 5 mins Apple Marketing and Advertising Industry iPad opinion Apple's M4 chip really does compete with itself Just a few months after the last big leap forward, Apple leapt ahead again. By Jonny Evans May 09, 2024 5 mins Apple CPUs and Processors iPad news OpenAI unveils ‘Model Spec’: A framework for shaping responsible AI This first-of-its-kind document outlines the principles guiding model behavior in its API and ChatGPT, OpenAI announced in a blog post. By Gyana Swain May 09, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry Emerging Technology Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe