Red Hat cutting 4% of workforce in “rebalancing” effort, excluding sales and developers

U.S.-based software and technology company Red Hat is laying off 4 per cent of its entire workforce. CEO Matt Hicks revealed the job cuts in an email to staff.

What’s happening: Red Hat, the IBM-owned open-source software services maker, said Monday that the terminations would impact workers in general and administrative roles.

• Layoffs won’t extend to sales staff or developers.
• The layoffs represents approximately 760 employees out of Red Hat’s 19,000-strong workforce.
• Parent company IBM said in January that it would fire nearly 4,000 employees.
• The cuts will take place in various countries.

Further explanation: CEO Hicks said the company attempted to prevent layoffs; however, they became imperative “to ensure Red Hat’s ability to compete in a new environment.”

• “I know it is hard to reconcile that we are a successful, growing company and still need to take these hard actions,” he wrote. “At the core of this decision is the need to rebalance where we are investing to enable Red Hat’s future.”
• “Most of our own investments, whether resources, budget, headcount, or time, should prioritize innovation in our products and with our customers, not on the internals of how we work together, which should be focused and efficient,” he added.

Impact on Canadian staff

Red Hat’s layoffs may include a number of Canadian employees, however the full impact is currently unclear as the company has not confirmed the exact number and location of the terminations.

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