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While there have been instances of corporations announcing AI-inspired redundancies in recent times, few if any have been as upfront about the need to lean into emerging technologies as Fiverr was last week.
Tel Aviv-headquartered freelance provider Fiverr, which operates in approximately 160 countries, including Australia, is undertaking a “painful reset”, in which around 250 employees will be made redundant, as the company transforms itself into “an AI-first company”.
As of the time of writing, it was not clear which employees would be made redundant, or their whereabouts globally.
In a post on X, Fiverr founder and chief executive Micha Kaufman wrote that the company is “going back to startup mode”, noting that the speed at which technology is changing and the possibilities it brings are incredible, and they demand new thinking and higher velocity to stay at the top of the game.
To this end, he wrote, Fiverr is being transformed “into an AI-first company, that’s leaner, faster, with a modern AI-focused tech infrastructure, a smaller team, each with substantially greater productivity, and far fewer management layers”.
“This transformation requires a painful reset, and as we make it, we will be parting ways with approximately 250 team members across the different departments, resulting in a smaller and flatter organisation,” Kaufman said.
“This is possibly one of the toughest decisions that I have had to make, especially as Fiverr is such a magical place with a strong sense of belonging and mission-driven culture.”
Over the past year, Kaufman continued, Fiverr has implemented many AI projects across its organisation and has witnessed firsthand how AI can automate and streamline processes, liberate humans from manual and tedious tasks, and unlock capabilities “that were historically not possible or too expensive”.
“As we evaluate what has been done and what can be done, we believe we don’t need as many people to operate the existing business. Sometimes it’s about efficiency, as we’ve seen in customer support, where AI helps the team consolidate knowledge and reduce SLA for ticket resolution,” he said.
“Other times it’s about being more efficient and better performance, for example, the AI work we are doing around marketplace integrity and fraud detection. The opportunity to run a leaner organisation also allows us to work more closely as a team. Personally, I expect to work more directly with each one of you, with fewer reporting layers and more time to sit down together, and build.”
Regardless of what one makes of the decision and its impact on human employment, it’s hard not to respect the transparency with which Kaufman and Fiverr have gone about this, along with the detailed explanation for how the company expects to evolve and grow.
In an ever-shifting marketplace, in which new and emerging technologies – namely AI – are upending how businesses operate and find efficiencies, redundancies are coming thick and fast, from university campuses to listed entities.
Some of those businesses announcing redundancies have acknowledged the realities of AI, like Recruit Holdings (parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor) and CBA (which ultimately had to back down on planned cuts), while other companies have rejected that job cuts are occurring so headcount can be replaced with AI, like Atlassian and Telstra (this is not to say those companies are in fact replacing workers with AI – just that speculation has driven them to issue such clarifications).
However, unlike those abovementioned companies, which have made cuts in recognition of the realities of AI, Fiverr appears to be more readily leaning into that new reality.
Kaufman wrote: “We’re already one of the companies to embrace AI across everything we do, and we are reaping the benefits of what small, productive AI teams can deliver. We need to accelerate this mode of work. We can and should dream bigger and build faster, using this moment to build what’s next for Fiverr on a modern, clean, AI-focused infrastructure from the ground up.
“Our infrastructure was built over the course of many years, and it is not about just adding more people to build on top of it; it is about simplifying it. This is a different skill and a different mindset. It requires going back to startup mode.”
To those who will be leaving Fiverr, Kaufman wrote: “Thank you! We do not take your contribution for granted, and we plan to do everything we can to provide you with comprehensive support – generous severance, extended healthcare, career transition assistance, and personal help from our leadership team.”
“I’m deeply thankful to all of you, internally and externally, for making Fiverr what it is today. And I’m incredibly excited for what’s yet to come.”
If, as most expect, AI evolves to the level that many human roles are no longer required, it is perhaps inevitable that upfront, honest communication about how and why companies make certain decisions will not just be expected, but demanded.
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Momentum Media’s professional services suite, encompassing Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, Accountants Daily, and Accounting Times. He has worked as a journalist and podcast host at Momentum Media since February 2018. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
