Key Takeaways
1. Recruit Holdings is cutting about 1,300 jobs, around 6% of its HR-technology workforce, to accelerate AI-powered hiring tools.
2. Layoffs will impact research-and-development, growth, and sustainability departments, mainly in the U.S. and other regions, with Glassdoor merging into Indeed.
3. CEO Hisayuki Idekoba emphasizes the need for changes in a labor market reliant on manual processes and predicts AI will produce 50% of new code soon.
4. This restructuring follows previous layoffs of 2,200 in 2023 and 1,000 in 2024, as Recruit integrates generative AI to enhance candidate-employer connections.
5. Recruit aims to reduce labor costs by 60-65% through AI, despite concerns about job losses due to increased automation.
Recruit Holdings, the Japanese parent company of job platforms Indeed and Glassdoor, is cutting around 1,300 jobs—approximately six percent of its HR-technology workforce—as part of its push to speed up the introduction of AI-powered hiring tools.
Job Cuts Across Departments
These layoffs will affect areas such as research-and-development, growth, and people-and-sustainability, primarily in the United States, but also in other regions. Additionally, Glassdoor’s functions will be merged with Indeed, leading to the exit of Glassdoor’s CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong on October 1st.
CEO’s Perspective on Changes
Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba, the CEO, described the changes as necessary due to a labor market that still depends heavily on manual procedures. He has noted that currently, one-third of Recruit’s new code is produced using AI, and he anticipates that this percentage will reach 50% shortly.
Continuous Restructuring and Future Outlook
This restructuring comes after previous job cuts—2,200 positions in 2023 and another 1,000 in 2024—as Recruit updates its platforms with generative AI capabilities to better connect candidates with employers. Other major tech firms have also implemented layoffs this year for similar reasons related to AI investments.
With the latest job cuts, Recruit’s HR-technology division will have around 20,000 employees. The management believes AI can reduce the industry’s “60–65 percent human-labor cost,” leading to an improved hiring process. However, some critics raise concerns about potential job loss as automation becomes more prevalent.
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