A $US40 billion global e-commerce giant has left Australian staff devastated after they woke up to find they had been made redundant in a late night email that came just weeks after some went through a restructure.
Shopify, which creates the software that runs many online stores including JB Hi-Fi, cut about 10 per cent of its 10,000 global staff on Tuesday night. The company had expanded rapidly during the pandemic-fuelled internet shopping boom only to run into a sharp market downturn.
Tobias Lutke, the founder and boss of Shopify, informed staff that one in ten would be leaving via an email that landed late at night, Australian time.Credit:Bloomberg / Cate Dingley
One Australian employee affected by the layoffs was left gutted by how the process was communicated.
“There’s been a lot more process over there [in North America],” the former employee said, speaking on condition of anonymity to preserve job prospects. “But nothing here. Nothing. We’re all talking to each other trying to figure out what’s going on.”
A raft of major technology companies and start-ups have made staff redundant this year as the market plunges, with most staff being understanding. However, Shopify’s decision to inform its Australian team via email late at night to coordinate with teams overseas have sparked a different reaction.
“We thought we had survived a re-organisation” an employee said. “There’s a lot of anger as well, some of the others I’ve spoken to were crying.”
All staff received an email at about 10.30pm on Tuesday night from Shopify’s founder and global chief executive Tobias Lütke informing them that the Canadian-headquartered company was making cuts globally with details to follow for affected employees shortly. Australian staff were offered slots to talk to managers or HR on Tuesday.
Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong,
Shopify’s founder and global chief executive Tobias Lütke
Ian Neil, SC, an employment law barrister, said Australia’s national employment standards had redundancy rules for staff who do not have redundancy provisions in union-negotiated agreements, industrial awards or their contracts. Consultation requirements are minimal, though in some circumstances unions have to be notified, and payout starts at four weeks after a year of service, rising to 16 weeks after nine years at a company.