E-commerce company Lightspeed cutting 300 jobs, streamlining operations

Hundreds of jobs are on the chopping block at Lightspeed, as the Montreal-based e-commerce company streamlines its operations.

In a news release on Jan. 17, the company said it’s eliminating approximately 300 roles, or 10 per cent of its “headcount-related operating expenditures.”

“After several years of strong performance, this reorganization represents the next deliberate step in executing Lightspeed’s strategy to unify all of its acquired companies and products,” the release reads.

“This new structure is expected to unlock efficiencies after absorbing employees, technology and processes through [our] most recent acquisitions.”

Lightspeed added that half of the cuts are “coming from management layers.”

According to LinkedIn, the company employs a global workforce of more than 2,400 people.

Canadian impact

It remains unclear how many Canadian workers at Lightspeed are affected by the latest reduction.

In addition to Canada, the e-commerce company has teams all over the world, including in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and New Zealand.

Major tech layoffs continue

Lightspeed joins the growing list of major North American tech companies that are kicking off 2023 with significant layoffs.

Benevity, Microsoft, Thinkific, Cloud Software Group, Amazon, and Salesforce are scaling back their staffing levels as they continue to monitor market conditions.

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Termination agreements for Lightspeed employees

As part of the layoff announcement, Lightspeed said it expects to incur an incremental restructuring charge of $12 million to $14 million in its fourth quarter.

The charge will primarily consist of severance payments, employee benefits, and other related costs.

In Ontario, non-unionized employees and senior executives at Lightspeed are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing or corporate restructuring.

This includes individuals working full-time, part-time, or hourly.

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

LEARN MORE
• Severance for technology industry employees
• Severance for provincially regulated employees
• Mass layoffs in Ontario: Rights to severance

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains why you are still owed severance if you have been downsized 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 compensation if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

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