Jira and Trello Maker Atlassian Lays Off 1,600 Employees for AI Investment Push

Australian software company Atlassian has announced the termination of employment of approximately 10 per cent of its total workforce, or around 1,600 employees.

Atlassian is the maker of several popular workplace collaboration platforms, including Jira, Confluence, and Trello.

The layoff announcement was made directly by Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes on the company’s official blog.

Cannon-Brookes stated that the layoff decision is part of a company restructuring aimed at increasing investment in artificial intelligence (AI) as well as strengthening the company’s business sales to the enterprise segment.

“We must make this difficult decision to improve the company’s financial profile and adjust our work strategy so that we can operate faster and more efficiently in the AI era,” explained Cannon-Brookes.

However, he acknowledged that AI has genuinely transformed workflows and worker skill requirements, as well as the number of positions needed in several fields.

Consequently, Cannon-Brookes stated that restructuring is necessary for the company to adapt to AI efficiently and quickly in the future.

Cannon-Brookes explained that of the 1,600 affected employees, the majority work in North America.

In detail, approximately 40 per cent of affected employees are located in that region, followed by Australia at approximately 30 per cent and India at approximately 16 per cent.

In addition to North America, employee reductions in smaller numbers will also occur in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and the Philippines.

Affected employees will receive emails from the company regarding next steps, including payment of their entitlements in accordance with applicable laws and regulations in their respective countries.

The company restructuring is targeted to be substantially completed in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Atlassian.com.