Reddit has begun letting go of employees in various departments across the company as part of its ongoing review of individual staffer performance, according to four current and former employees who spoke with Insider and a Reddit spokesperson.
Among those impacted in January were employees who worked in data science, software engineering, community management, and creator relationships. Current employees at the company also received an email on January 24 informing them that more layoffs could be coming as the company reviews employee performance, and that it intends to backfill most of those roles. Insider was unable to determine the total number of Reddit employees who were let go during the month.
But several of the sources said low performers weren't the only ones let go.
"I wasn't expecting it," one laid-off staffer said. "I was told that I had done a good job." The former employee spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid damaging their relationship with the company.
A Reddit spokesperson said that the company undergoes company-wide performance reviews throughout the year to ensure it has the correct roles and talent. Reddit said it plans to backfill most of the impacted roles, and may adjust or move staff to other teams. It plans to continue to hire and grow its total headcount in 2023, particularly in engineering, data science, and sales.
It also just hired its first chief revenue officer, Harold Klaje.
"Our business is good, and we're continuing to hire this year and we're opening up new markets," Klaje told Insider in a recent interview. "We kind of ignore the macro-economic trend."
Reddit began restructuring its creator team in January, moving creator-focused employees from business development roles to instead work on creator services under its community-management and product teams, the spokesperson told Insider.
The company's community-management team, which let go of several staffers this month, serves as the public face of the company in front of moderators and other users, often acting as an internal advocate for the broader Reddit community.
Reddit's job cuts are arriving during a devastating month for employees at major tech companies. Spotify announced plans to let go of around 600 employees on Monday. Amazon began the process of trimming 18,000 staffers last week. Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft also announced staff cuts, and employees at Twitter were bracing for another possible round of layoffs.
Other creator-focused companies have also conducted layoffs in the face of a looming economic downturn, with around two dozen companies including Pinterest, Cameo, and Patreon, all laying off employees.
This post has been updated.
