The CEO of Massachusetts software company UKG wanted to delay the development until next week, but as speculation mounted, he only released the news a day before July 4: about 14% of the workforce will be laid off.
That means about 2,200 of the estimated 15,000 employees worldwide will soon lose their jobs, according to an email sent Wednesday by Chris Todd, the company’s CEO.
“We are announcing a number of organizational changes that will enable us to aggressively focus on critical growth areas and provide flexibility to actively invest in important new areas,” Todd wrote in his email.
“These changes mean we have made the difficult decision to say goodbye to ~14% of our colleagues,” he added. “A top priority through this change is to treat those who leave with care, dignity and respect, and provide support to make their transitions as smooth as possible.”
UKG, also known as Ultimate Kronos Group, is a privately held, multibillion-dollar company formed when Florida-based Ultimate Software merged with Lowell-based Kronos in February 2020.
The company provides software to businesses, schools and government agencies to support human resources, payroll and personnel management.
It is not yet clear how many workers in Massachusetts will lose their jobs.
UKG will provide laid-off employees with severance pay, a “prorated annual bonus for 2024 for eligible departing employees,” job search assistance, continued health insurance for a period of time and access to a company employee assistance program, Todd wrote in his email.
In a statement to the South Florida Sentinel, where UKG is co-headquartered, a spokesperson said the organizational changes will allow the company to “refocus and invest resources in key areas of product innovation, while improving the way we support our customers.”
The development has sparked widespread criticism on social media, with some employees calling the dismissal a surprise.
“I was devastated by the firing. My manager didn’t know. My manager’s manager didn’t know,” one employee wrote on Reddit. “To say the least, every single one of us is disappointed and sickened by how we all found out. I still don’t understand how UKG is considered the best company to work for when everyone I know is unhappy with the way they’re handling things.”
This isn’t the first time in recent history that UKG has laid off some of its workforce. The company cut about 260 jobs in March.
Major tech companies including Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft have all reduced portions of their workforces by implementing automation and artificial intelligence.