Needham, Massachusetts: It turns out, the first cut isn't always the deepest - travel website Tripadvisor is going in a lot deeper. After a disappointing close to 2019 led to the company laying off 200 employees in January, CEO & co-founder Steve Kaufer announced on the company blog that the a new round of layoffs would impact 25% of their global headcount, or 900 employees. The majority of those affected (600) are in the United States.

In addition, the majority of employees who were not let go will be asked to work four days a week, and salaried employees will take a 20% pay cut. Kaufer said the temporary reduction will save close to a hundred jobs. They are also cancelling employer 401k matching. All hiring that is not considered an immediate, essential need will be ceased as well.

The company is closing its San Francisco and Boston offices, offering employees of those locations the option to either work in the companies Needham, Massachusetts headquarters, or to work remote.

Kaufer also said he will be forgoing his salary for the remainder of the year. According to Tripadvisors most recent financial statement, Kaufer made $800,00 in base salary plus additional compensation that brought his annual income close to $2 million for 2018.

The company is offering severance packages, outplacement assistance, and - in the US and Canada - medical insurance continuation for a period of time. They are also gearting up their alumni network to help dislocated workers find new roles.

To help, we are launching the Tripadvisor Alumni Network, a community of current and past employees of this company who can assist in transition efforts. As a part of the network, we are creating an opt-in list of impacted employees (more information coming soon) that we will share with our network in the hopes that they might help our teammates who are seeking future employment. We will also provide a secure, private way for both our employee and alumni communities to share job leads, provide support, and keep in touch. Tripadvisor will support those leaving the organization by facilitating connections, sharing job leads, and, for those employees who opt-in, making their names visible to organizations that are hiring.

This last piece ties into work being done by other employers (CVS, Accenture, and more) who are trying out novel ways of using large networks to help ex-employees transition. There are impacts happening to the hiring & labor market that may well last beyond the pandemic - and this may well be one of the most significant. Word to the Makers: if you haven't started thinking about this on your white board, and how to build to build enabling solutions, you may want to dust off your markers.

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