Milwaukee-based insurance technology firm Zywave Inc. announced a reduction in its workforce Wednesday impacting "a number of employees," Zywave CEO Jason Liu said in an email.
The layoffs hit as Zywave comes off three years of rapid growth marked by nine acquisitions, and as tech companies nationwide are cutting jobs.
"Similar to many tech companies across the country, macroeconomic factors played a significant role in our decision to allocate our workforce and resources to more closely align with our highest priority programs," Liu said. "While Zywave's business is still strong and steady (ending the year with double-digit growth), we’ve begun to see a slowing pace of growth, which means we have a desire to regain operating efficiency with a headcount that matches current demand trends."
Zywave surpassed 1,000 employees earlier this year, the company previously told Wisconsin Inno. It did not disclose the number of employees it laid off Wednesday.
Impacted Zywave employees were at various levels of the organization, across departments and spanning all of its geographies including Milwaukee, Liu said. Most of the impacted employees departed the company Wednesday, he said. They will receive equitable severance packages, outplacement services and the ability to apply for future open roles.
Technology companies nationwide have slashed their workforces this year amid economic uncertainty. Big tech firms on the west coast including Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms Inc. each cut thousands of employees, for instance.
Locally, Northwestern Mutual recently eliminated 20 technology jobs, Madison-based cancer test maker Exact Sciences laid off 350 employees last month and Brookfield-based financial technology firm Fiserv Inc. has also confirmed layoffs this year.
"The technology market as a whole is going through a right-sizing where a long list of tech leaders invested heavily into future growth and now are having to recalibrate their level of investments in light of a slowing economy and once-in-a-generation inflation," Liu said.
Zywave is owned by California private equity firm Clearlake Capital Group. Last year, Liu told Wisconsin Inno that Zywave planned to double its workforce in the coming years while racing to become one of the most dominant insurance tech companies in the world.
"Zywave is a financially strong and growing company but we are having to be proactive and resize our level of investments in light of the challenging macroeconomic environment," Liu said Wednesday.
