Zendesk to lay off another 8% of its staff, cites macroeconomic issues

CRM software provider Zendesk is reducing another 8% of its workforce citing macroeconomic uncertainty, just six months after the company laid off 300 staffers for the same reason.

“All this is difficult news to share, but I’ve made the decision to reduce our workforce by 8% at Zendesk,” CEO Tom Eggemeier wrote in an email to all employees, which was later posted as a blog.

The new tranche of layoffs, according to Eggemeier, can be attributed to continued macroeconomic uncertainty and increased competition from rivals.

“When I joined at the end of November, I’d hoped a combination of improving macroeconomic conditions and streamlining costs would help us avoid this moment. Unfortunately, macroeconomic conditions have not improved and we find ourselves in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” Eggemeier wrote.

In November, Zendesk laid off around 300 staffers from its global workforce of 5,450 employees to reduce operating expenses because the company hired more employees than were commensurate with its growth projections.

“From 2020 – 2022, our hiring outpaced our business realities,” Eggemeier, who joined the company in November last year, wrote. Zendesk’s executive team had taken responsibility for the first round of layoffs that came months after it was acquired by a consortium of private equity firms for $10.2 billion.