Customer and employee experience company Qualtrics has eliminated about 780 jobs, CEO Zig Serafin said in a Wednesday email to employees that was published on the company's website.
Qualtrics, which has dual headquarters in Seattle and Provo, Utah, had 5,500 employees before the cuts, meaning about 14% of the company will be affected by the layoffs. The company will keep its Seattle space in the 2+U tower at 1201 Second Ave. downtown but declined to comment beyond Serafin's email or specify how many Seattle-based employees will lose their jobs.
"Rapid hiring was essential to enable our growth up to this point, but it also created complexity that does not support continued growth at our scale," Serafin wrote in the email. "Simply put, the organizational structures, work processes and the way we made decisions previously don’t work for the company we’ve become, or the company we aspire to be."
Laid-off employees will receive at least 10 weeks of severance, which will be based on tenure and level, as well as health insurance, fourth quarter bonuses and other benefits.
The company also said several hundred roles would change or move locations in the next year.
The decision comes after Qualtrics was acquired by private equity firm Silver Lake, in partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, for about $12.5 billion in June. The deal took Qualtrics off the Nasdaq.
The private equity acquisition this year marked the latest development in a winding journey for Qualtrics. SAP in 2018 announced plans to acquire Qualtrics, days before the company planned to go public. The $8 billion deal closed in January 2019. SAP spun Qualtrics out in January 2021, after which Qualtrics went public on the Nasdaq.
In January, Qualtrics announced plans to cut roughly 270 workers, or about 5% of the company at the time. Qualtrics had about 1,000 employees based in Seattle as of March.
Qualtrics, founded in 2002, uses data to improve customer and employee experience. Its technology finds pain points in user experience, such as a cumbersome step in downloading a new app, allowing clients to make the needed adjustments to retain customers. Qualtrics has more than 20,000 clients, including Spotify, Samsung and Toyota.
Qualtrics generated $1.46 billion in revenue in 2022, up from $1.08 billion in 2021.
"To those who are leaving, I am truly sorry. I know this explanation doesn’t make it any better for you," Serafin wrote in the Wednesday email. "On behalf of the entire company, thank you for everything you’ve given to Qualtrics, and for the chapters you have helped to write."
