Atlassian to cut hundreds of jobs after CEO Scott Farquhar did a recruitment drive across Australia

Australian software giant Atlassian will cut 500 jobs just months after co-CEO Scott Farquhar travelled around the nation on a massive recruitment drive. 

It was announced that 500 full-time employees – or 5 per cent of Atlassian’s workforce – would be made redundant amidst an economic downtown that’s significantly affected tech companies. 

Billionaire co-founders, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, sent an internal letter to staff to breakdown the ‘difficult decision’ by the company to lay off workers.

‘We have made the difficult decision to rebalance our team to better position Atlassian for the long term,’ the pair wrote. 

‘We came to this decision as an executive team and with our board, but ultimately the final call is on us as co-founders. To those who are leaving us: we are deeply sorry.’

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Tech giant Atlassian will cut 500 jobs just months after co-founder Scott Farquhar (pictured) travelled around Australia to recruit 1000 people

Atlassian’s HR, program management and research and insights teams would be most impacted by the cuts.

‘To be clear, this decision is not a reflection of Atlassian’s own financial performance, as we will be reinvesting in roles that better support our priorities,’ the co-founders said.

‘This is going to be hard news for every Atlassian to digest. Please take the time you need to process it.’

‘As we’ve said before, the calls we make in challenging times need to reflect a future Atlassian we are all building towards. Atlassian’s future remains incredibly bright, with a huge amount of opportunity and possibility ahead of us.’ 

Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Farquhar told affected staff: ‘We are incredibly sorry for the impact this will have on you and your family.’

‘Thank you deeply for your contribution to Atlassian.’ 

Employees who are made redundant will be offered certain benefits including 15 weeks of severance, plus one week for each year of employment.

A number of major tech companies including Google and Amazon have laid off hundreds of workers in recent months. 

The company’s co-founders, Mike Cannon-Brookes (pictured with wife Annie) and Scott Farquhar, sent an internal letter to staff to breakdown the ‘difficult decision’ to lay off staff

The announcement by Atlassian comes six months after the company looked to hire 1000 new staff who could work from ‘anywhere’. 

Co-founder Scott Farquhar hit the road, driving an Atlassian-branded campervan to find 1,032 new staff to join the company in research and development roles.  

‘Atlassian’s work from anywhere policy (Team Anywhere) means many Aussies can realise a dream in tech without having to move,’ a statement from the company said.

Most salary packages are understood to be between $100,000 and $150,000, depending on roles and experience. 

The company’s recruitment drive began at Sydney’s Martin Place but became a road trip thereafter.

The so-called ‘AtlassiVan’ visited Canberra, Wollongong, Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.