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Slicing corners: Receiving a layoff discover is at all times exhausting, however the best way the message is delivered could make the expertise much more painful. The newest instance: Atlassian’s termination notification to 150 workers via a pre-recorded video. The restructuring not solely highlights considerations about impersonal layoff bulletins but additionally displays the rising affect of AI on jobs within the expertise trade.
Australian software program big Atlassian has eliminated 150 jobs as a part of a serious restructuring of its buyer assist and companies staff. The announcement was delivered by way of a pre-recorded message from CEO and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes to workers on the morning of July 30, with many roles reportedly to get replaced by synthetic intelligence methods.
The video, titled “Restructuring the CSS Workforce: A Troublesome Determination for Our Future,” didn’t disclose the identities of these affected or instantly present particulars about particular person employment standing. As an alternative, workers have been instructed to attend an extra quarter-hour for an e-mail notification about their positions, after which, affected workers discovered their firm laptops had been disabled. In accordance with studies, these whose positions have been terminated will obtain six months’ wage as severance.
The choice to announce the layoffs via a pre-recorded video has been sharply criticized for its impersonal method, particularly at an organization that has lengthy promoted values of direct communication and transparency. The timing and methodology of supply left many workers unprepared, reigniting discussions about finest practices for managing redundancies within the tech trade.
“One-size-fits-all comms merely will not reduce it when individuals’s livelihoods are on the road,” Olive Turon, Head of Individuals and Tradition for TestGorilla, told HR Journal, including that for troublesome selections to be accepted, communication ought to be clear, compassionate, and adopted by significant assist for these affected.
Authorized specialists have additionally weighed in on the method taken. Matthew Ottley, employment solicitor at SAS Daniels LLP, defined to HR Journal that delivering redundancy notices by way of a pre-recorded message or textual content could also be thought of impersonal and dangerous by way of employment legislation, significantly within the UK, the place employers are anticipated to observe a good and affordable course of.
Whereas Atlassian has not publicly disclosed which international areas have been most affected, media studies have urged Europe’s workforce was closely impacted. Within the video, Cannon-Brookes referred to the complexities of terminating European workers because of contractual preparations, however acknowledged that the corporate was nonetheless continuing in that course.
Amid the staffing cuts, Atlassian continues to develop its use of AI in enterprise operations. The corporate has embedded AI applied sciences in its buyer contact options, a transfer consistent with the broader shift within the expertise sector towards automation. Whereas co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes broke the information of the layoffs, former co-CEO Scott Farquhar appeared on Australian media on the identical day selling the transformative potential of AI for the nation’s economic system, saying, “AI goes to vary Australia,” and including, “Each individual ought to be utilizing AI every day for as many issues as they will.”