Flexport laying off 950 employees following leadership change

Flexport, a prominent logistics provider based in San Francisco, is reducing its workforce by around 950 employees, according to inside sources.

The layoffs come as founder Ryan Petersen resumes control to address financial setbacks — marking a significant change in the company’s leadership dynamics.

• Workforce Reduction: Flexport is set to slash its workforce by approximately 30 per cent.
• Leadership Changes: Founder Ryan Petersen has retaken control after recent leadership changes, including the termination of CEO Dave Clark, who had joined from Amazon. This reshuffle also saw the exit of CFO Kenny Wagers and other top executives.
• Financial Setbacks: Flexport experienced a significant drop in revenues, with a 70 per cent decrease to $700 million in the first half of the year. Loss estimates range between $260 million to $300 million, but the company asserts a net cash position of $1 billion.
• Strategic Shifts: Criticisms were raised against Clark’s strategy favouring U.S. transport and warehousing over Flexport’s primary international services. Petersen emphasized the importance of understanding customer needs in freight forwarding, rather than relying heavily on automation.
• Technology Vision: Despite the challenges, Flexport remains committed to technological advancements. The company plans to launch tools like a freight forwarding app to simplify the international shipping process.

According to the company’s LinkedIn page, it employs a total workforce of more than 3,500 people. Over 100 workers are located in Canada.

It remains unclear if any Canadian employees are affected by the latest reduction at Flexport.

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Major layoffs continue

Flexport joins the long list of major North American companies that have announced sweeping layoffs in 2023.

Big names, including Amazon, Hopper, Epic Games, Google, Roku, Dell, Telus, Microsoft, Ritual, and Meta, have significantly scaled back their staffing levels as they continue to navigate challenging economic conditions.

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• Firm launches $130M class action against Shopify for breach of contract
• Twitch trims headcount for the second time in months, reports claim
• Where are layoffs happening in Canada?

Termination agreements for Flexport employees

In Canada, non-unionized employees at Flexport are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing, corporate restructuring, or the closure of the business.

This includes individuals working full-time, part-time, or hourly in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.

People working “on contract” or as a contractor may also be owed severance pay — given that many employees in Canada are often misclassified as independent contractors.

Severance can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.

LEARN MORE
• Rights to severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance entitlements during mass layoffs
• Severance packages in a recession

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains what rights employees have if they are being fired or let go on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Before you accept any severance offer, have an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP review it and your employment contract.

We can tell you if what you have been provided is fair and how to get proper severance if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

If you don’t receive the full amount, which happens often, you have been wrongfully dismissed and are entitled to compensation.

In some cases, employers pressure staff into accepting poor severance packages, such as imposing a deadline for accepting the offer.

Non-unionized employees in Canada have up to two years from the date of their dismissal to pursue a claim for full severance pay.