An Upwork sign is shown at a Bay Area office of the outsourcing and freelancing company on May 3, 2019.
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty ImagesUpwork, a Bay Area tech company that helps freelancers find and be paid for jobs, is laying off a whopping 21% of its own workers.
The company, worth about $1.7 billion, announced the cuts Wednesday in a news release and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The exact scope of the layoff is unclear, but based on Upwork’s reported 800 employees at the end of 2023, the 21% cut will likely hit at least 160 workers.
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Upwork also filed a WARN notice with California on Wednesday, as is generally required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act in the event of mass layoffs. The document listed 67 layoffs at the company’s Palo Alto office, including eight vice presidents and a slew of directors and managers, and said the separations are planned for Dec. 23. Upwork lists the Palo Alto office as its headquarters on some documents and says it’s San Francisco-headquartered elsewhere — the company was reported to have moved its base from Santa Clara to San Francisco in 2021.
The layoffs, Upwork CEO Hayden Brown wrote in a now-published message to staff, are meant to “flatten and streamline” the company’s organization, “realign teams” toward top priorities, and “empower teams to take more risks and simplify processes.” She wrote that the company is making progress on using automation across the business, and she’s hoping for more.
“For a company with a mission centered around creating economic opportunity, reducing our workforce is a painful step to take, and I know it is hardest for those who will not be a part of our next chapter,” Brown wrote. “For those of you who will be leaving Upwork today, I want to thank you for the energy, commitment and LUV you have shown for our customers, your teams and your work here.”
Upwork, which bills itself as “the world’s work marketplace,” also on Wednesday released preliminary financial results for the July through September quarter. Per the news release, the company pulled in $194 million in revenue, which well surpasses the company’s pre-quarter guidance, and turned a $28 million profit. The release noted that Upwork expects to save $60 million a year from the announced cost cuts.
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In lieu of providing comment on the layoffs, Upwork spokesperson Elisabeth Hutchinson referred SFGATE to the company’s news release and Brown’s message. The company shed staff in 2023, too, laying off 137 people in a 15% cut to its full-time workforce.
Hear of anything happening at Upwork or another Bay Area tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.