Atlassian terminates 150 staff (who will largely be replaced by AI) with pre-recorded video

Major Australian tech company Atlassian has terminated 150 staff with a pre-recorded video, as the company prepares to fill the jobs with AI.

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on HR Leader’s sister brand, Cyber Daily.

Atlassian CEO and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes sent the video titled “Restructuring the CSS Team: A Difficult Decision for Our Future” to staff on Wednesday morning (30 July), informing them that 150 staff had been made redundant. The video reportedly did not make it seem that the decision was difficult, but rather said it would allow its staff “to say goodbye”.

The video itself did not announce who was leaving, but it told employees they would have to wait 15 minutes for an email about their employment. Those who were terminated had their laptops blocked immediately. They reportedly will receive six months’ pay.

Atlassian has always set itself as a company that doesn’t mince words and is majorly transparent, displaying the core value “Open Company, No Bullshit” in its offices around the world.

While not specifically outlined, the affected staff seem to be from the company’s European operations, with The Australian saying that Cannon-Brooke’s overshared that it would be difficult to axe its European staff due to contract arrangements, but that the company had already begun moving in that direction.

The video also reportedly outlined that many of the terminated jobs would be replaced by AI.

Former co-CEO and co-founder Scott Farquhar, at the same time, has said that embracing AI daily is something Australians should be doing.

“AI is going to change Australia,” he told ABC.

“Every person should be using AI daily for as many things as they can.”

“Like any new technology, it will feel awkward to start with, but every business person, every business leader, every government leader, and every bureaucrat should be using it.”

He also said that governments should be implementing AI more broadly.

Staff believe that Farquhar, who announced his resignation as co-CEO of Atlassian in April 2024 before stepping down in September, would have been gentler in delivering the termination message.

“[Cannon-Brookes] is the colder person out of the couple,” said one person who saw the pre-recorded video, according to The Australian.

“[Farquhar] was the warmer one.”

Commenting on the termination, Farquhar said the mass termination was due to the customer service team no longer being needed in the same capacity, as larger clients required less complex support following a move to the cloud.

Cyber Daily, HR Leader’s sister brand, has reached out to Atlassian for confirmation that no Australian staff were impacted and for comment on the incident.

Atlassian closely follows Commonwealth Bank (CBA), which culled at least 45 jobs as it makes room for AI.

The country’s largest bank said it would be making at least 45 roles redundant in the wake of its push to use AI, and only a month after it announced that it had launched a new customer assistance AI voice bot system.

“Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres,” a CBA spokesman said regarding the voice bot.

“By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience.

“To meet the changing needs of our customers ... we review the skills we need and how we’re organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes. That means some roles and work can change.”