In a letter, addressed to LinkedIn employees, CEO Ryan Roslansky has announced organization-wide layoffs due to the global pandemic caused by the novel COVID-19 virus.

He shares, “LinkedIn is not immune to the effects of the global pandemic. Our Talent Solutions business continues to be impacted as fewer companies, including ours, need to hire at the same volume they did previously.”

According to the decision made by the management, LinkedIn is planning to cut 960 roles, which is about six percent of the company’s employee base, across the Global Sales and Talent Acquisition organizations.

There are a number of amendments being made in the roles as shared by Roslansky in the letter:

First, there are a set of roles in GSO that are no longer needed as we evolve the way we work with our talent media customers and small businesses. 

"We’re seeing the product investments we've made over the past two years in LMS deliver incredible results, but we are still managing a separate talent media business in LTS. By moving from two separate media businesses to a unified approach across all customers that leverages our LMS investments, we will be able to serve our customers holistically and not have to continue duplicating costly platforms, systems, and tools internally," said Roslansky.

In order to service more small businesses better, LinkedIn plan to move from servicing them through a field sales team to servicing them online. "To drive customer value for small businesses, we've kicked off a very substantial product investment, including our products-and-services marketplace and a unified online storefront channel strategy. This online channel approach will allow us to better serve the millions of small businesses that will need LinkedIn through this pandemic and beyond—and aligns with how we plan to focus our field sales efforts on our higher-value relationships," wrote Roslansky.

The company is also offering support and benefits to the affected employees as mentioned below:

• Financial: We’re providing a minimum of ten weeks of severance pay. This may increase based on tenure and country-specific practices and is in addition to a paid notification period that varies by country. In addition, a payment in lieu of FY20 bonuses will be paid out at full target for those who are bonus-eligible, and departing employees will be eligible for our August stock vesting.
• Healthcare: In the U.S., we’ll pay for 12 months of continuing health insurance through COBRA to give employees and their families peace of mind during uncertain times. More broadly across the globe, we are offering six months of healthcare continuation or the cash equivalent in group premiums where applicable based on local plans and regulations. 
• Career transition assistance: We’ve created a special six-month offering called Momentum to help employees successfully find their next role. This includes 1:1 coaching, workshops, and LinkedIn Learning courses on interview prep, compensation fundamentals, job search strategies, and integrating into a new role. We’re also creating an opt-in directory to help departing employees showcase their experiences and be more discoverable to potential employers.
• Technology: All departing employees will have the opportunity to keep LinkedIn cell phones, laptops, and recently purchased equipment to help work from home, so they have the practical tools they need to help with career transitions.
• Immigration support: Our global immigration team will reach out to provide personalized support to those on company-sponsored visas, and LinkedIn will also pay for one-on-one consultations with external immigration legal advisors.
• Potential placements: As we invest in our most strategic areas for growth, we will be hiring for newly-created roles across the company, and we will work with employees impacted by today’s announcement to explore these opportunities.

The announcement also mentioned that the decisions about individual impacts and notifications to impacted employees will not occur at the same time across all countries. 

Affected employees who work in North America, Brazil, and parts of APAC will be made aware of impacts to their roles in the next 24 hours. These departing employees will be with us through August 21st. Impacted employees in Dubai will also be notified in the next 24 hours and will be with us through September 29th. Employees in Ireland, the UK, and Australia have begun a consultation about potential impacts on roles and we will continue to work through those locally. Employees who work in France, Sweden, and Spain will learn more about the proposed impact on roles during August, and employees in Italy will hear about proposed impacts in September.

Roslansky wrote to people who are affected by this decision, "To our teammates who are leaving: I deeply thank you for the positive impact you’ve made. Your time and effort have been critical to helping manifest LinkedIn’s vision. Please know these changes aren't a reflection on you or your work at LinkedIn, but rather, the result of strategic changes we are making to accelerate the vision of the company. You’ve played an important role in building LinkedIn, and I am truly grateful.”

He further wrote, “For everyone else: I know I can count on you to do everything in your power—through references, advice and mentoring, and connections in your network—to help our talented teammates move on to their next plays. Thank you for showing your support, gratitude and compassion for all that they’ve done to help build the company we are today and for all they’re experiencing.  At our next All Hands on August 5, I’ll be sharing more about our overarching FY21 plan, strategy, and areas of growth and investment.”

Read the full letter here.