PLEASANTON — A big East Bay tech company warned on Wednesday that it plans to slash well over 1,000 jobs as it seeks to capitalize on fast-expanding opportunities in the fledgling AI sector.
“We have made the difficult, but necessary, decision to eliminate approximately 1,750 positions, or 8.5% of our current workforce,” Workday Chief Executive Officer Carl Eschenbach stated in a note to company employees.
Pleasanton-based Workday detailed the wrenching layoffs in a filing with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We’re at a pivotal moment,” Eschenbach said in the post. “Companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.”
Workday will hire an unspecified number of workers to focus on AI initiatives that are deemed to be promising for the tech company.
Artificial intelligence portends a “massive opportunity” for Workday, Eschenbach said. However, “some changes” will be required to align the company’s workforce with what customers are seeking.
“This means investing strategically, helping teams work better together, bringing innovations to market faster, and making it easier for our customers and partners to work with us,” Eschenbach stated in the open letter.
For now, however, Workday — and its workers — must navigate a forbidding landscape of layoffs and reductions in the company’s workspaces.
Workday last orchestrated massive job cuts about two years ago.
In 2023, Workday disclosed a decision to chop 196 jobs in Pleasanton, according to a WARN letter the company filed with the state Employment Development Department.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the current wave of Workday cutbacks might begin.
“We’ll start meeting with affected employees shortly, with the goal of reaching as many as possible today, subject to local requirements where a consultation period is required,” Eschenbach wrote to company workers.
It also appears that Workday might attempt to sell or vacate an unknown number of existing work hubs, the company disclosed in the SEC filing.
“Workday expects to exit certain owned office space,” the company stated in the SEC filing.
The company didn’t disclose the properties it would vacate. However, in 2021, Workday paid $172.5 million for six office buildings on Stoneridge Mall Road, including the tech company’s headquarters.
Over the 12 months that ended in October, Workday posted a profit of $1.62 billion on revenue of $8.16 billion, according to the Finance Charts website.
Job cuts are on the horizon despite what appears to be a rosy profit outlook for Workday.
“Workday expects its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter and full-year financial results to be in line with or above its guidance as provided on its fiscal 2025 third-quarter earnings call,” Workday stated in the SEC filing. The company’s 2025 fiscal year ended in January 2025.
The company made it clear that the layoffs won’t curb its efforts to hire people as needed.
“While we are eliminating some positions, we will continue to hire in key strategic areas and locations,” Eschenbach stated in the open letter to Workday workers.