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.

Major tech layoffs continue

Red Hat joins the ever-expanding list of major North American tech companies that have announced sweeping layoffs in 2023.

Several big names, including Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Dell, Clearco, Hootsuite, Kyndryl, F5, CDW, IBM, and Microsoft, have significantly scaled back their staffing levels as they continue to navigate challenging economic conditions.

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Termination packages for Red Hat staff

In Canada, non-unionized employees at Red Hat 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 in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.

Severance 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
• Severance packages in mass layoffs

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.

Employers sometimes use pressure tactics to try to coerce employees into accepting poor severance packages, such as imposing a deadline for accepting the offer.

However, in Canada, terminated employees have up to two years from the date of their dismissal to pursue a claim for full severance pay.