Hootsuite will sack one third of its staff as the global tech slump continues to bite major companies — but Aussie success story Canva is showing no signs of cutting back, with 180 positions currently being advertised.
Hootsuite has about 1200 staff members all over the globe, meaning some 400 people will lose their jobs this week, though management is refusing to say which roles are on the chopping block.
“It is indicative of a change to our business that realigns our strategies with the positions we need to be successful,” chief executive officer Tom Keiser said in a statement.
“We need to refocus our strategies to drive efficiency, growth and financial sustainability.”
Keiser added that it was a hard day at Hootsuite.
“…These people are our colleagues and our friends. They are some of the best in their fields, and we will do whatever we can to help them land well elsewhere.”
Hootsuite was launched in 2008 to help users manage multiple social media profiles, with the system interface dashboard supporting integrations from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest and YouTube.
It’s a noticeable setback for the social media management giant, which experienced a growth spurt and made two landmark acquisitions in 2021 to diversify beyond social media management.
It also opened a new office in the US and announced plans to hire more than 60 staff by the end of this year.
But things began going downhill for Hootsuite in 2022 after it delayed a planned initial public offering reportedly due to a less-than-welcoming public market response.
It’s not the first time the company has turned to blood-letting in tough times.
In May 2019, 100 employees (10% of the workforce) were sacked and Keiser jumped ship from COO at US-based Zendesk to pivot Hootsuite into e-commerce and customer service software in the aftermath.
This latest round of axed employees will be walking jobless into a record-high labour and skills shortage in Australia, but they may, with a bit of luck, get noticed by Canva.
Despite large vacancies across nearly every local sector, Canva is rapidly growing its headcount — the company had 1300 employees at the start of 2022, but has nearly tripled that to 3100 employees.
There are 180 vacant positions at the moment, and the applications are likely pouring in, if past numbers are anything to go by, with Canva having revealed it received a whopping 300,000 job applications last year, according to reporting in the AFR.
It could be a result of the Sydney-based DIY graphic design company’s renowned perks, including three days of volunteer leave, 18 weeks of parental leave (while those returning can work three day weeks for full pay) and only a mere suggestion that staff attend the office eight times a year.
Canva has not been completely immune to the tech slowdown, however. Its value has tumbled to $37 billion during the past year with about 100 million active users a year.
Emma Elsworthy is Climate Editor at Crikey, SmartCompany, and The Mandarin, and writes daily morning newsletter the Worm. Before joining Crikey in 2021, Emma was a breaking news reporter in ABC’s Sydney newsroom, a journalist at BBC Australia, and a journalist in Fairfax Media’s regional network. She was part of a team awarded a Walkley for coverage of the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfire crisis, and won the Australian Press Council prize in 2013.
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