Dive Brief:
- Recruit Holdings, parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor, announced layoffs Thursday affecting 1,300 employees in its HR technology segment, or about 6% of that segment’s total workforce.
- The move is in part an effort to adapt to artificial intelligence’s effects on the company’s products, CEO Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba said in an internal memo to employees cited by multiple media outlets.
- Recruit Holdings did not immediately respond to a request for comment submitted via the company’s online form.
Dive Insight:
The announcement marks another year of job losses for Indeed, where executives slashed 15% of the company’s workforce in 2023 and an additional 8% in 2024. Indeed attributed both rounds of layoffs at least in part to hiring slowdowns in the broader global economy; in the 2024 announcement, former Indeed CEO Chris Hyams said the company maintained stable profitability amid a decline in job postings but needed to “reignite growth” moving forward.
Hyams stepped down last month to be replaced by Idekoba, who previously served as Indeed’s CEO and president and led Recruit Holdings’ acquisition of the company in 2019. In a press release announcing his appointment, Idekoba said the company would leverage AI to “deliver even greater value and innovation to job seekers and employers globally,” while acknowledging the headwinds facing the business.
“We’re in a once-in-a-generation moment when technology can really change lives,” Idekoba said in the June release. “Hiring is still too slow and too hard, and we’re using AI to make it simpler and more personal — for both job seekers and employers.”
The 2025 layoffs come during a broader moment of uncertainty in the recruiting market, with Recruit Holdings rival CareerBuilder + Monster filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 24, just one year after the companies merged. CareerBuilder + Monster CEO Jeff Furman attributed that decision to a “challenging and uncertain macroeconomic environment.”
AI’s influence “can be felt in just about every facet of the online job advertising market,” researchers at Staffing Industry Analysts said in a May report shared with HR Dive. SIA noted that industry is “undergoing a significant realignment” amid technological disruption, shifting client expectations and investor pressure.
AI adoption has always led to job losses in a way that may be underreported, according to a recent report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The firm said that at least 20,000 job cuts in the first half of 2025 were attributed to technology-related factors such as automation but that companies may categorize those layoffs broadly rather than attributing them specifically to AI.
