Asana Layoffs Impact Big Chunk of Workforce in San Francisco

Asana, a work management software provider, initiated mass layoffs this week impacting nearly 100 workers.

The company is based and the layoffs occurred in San Francisco. In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice with the California Employment Development Department, Asana said the layoffs should be permanent.

Asana employed 1,666 employees as of Jan. 31.

Asana sent us the following statement:

“Today, Asana announced the difficult decision to reduce our force, impacting about 9%, of the global team, as part of a restructuring plan intended to improve our operational efficiencies and operating costs, and better align Asana’s workforce with current business needs, top strategic priorities and key growth opportunities. We are supporting our departing team and remain so grateful for each person’s contribution to Asana.”

Asana joins numerous other companies doing business in the channel that are laying off workers. Others include Oracle, Salesforce, RingCentral, SADA and more.

Unforeseeable Circumstances Prompted Timing of Layoffs

California requires employers give a 60-day notice to affected employees, and state and local representatives, before a mass layoff.

“This mass layoff was caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time that a 60-day notification could have been met,” Asana said in its WARN notice.

All affected employees will receive a payment equivalent to 60 days of compensation and other benefits to which they are entitled to under the WARN act.

Impacted workers include first/mid-level officials and managers, professionals, sales workers and administrative support workers

Affected employees will not be able to displace more junior employees out of their job positions, Asana said.

In September, Asana reported a 51% year-over-year increase in revenues for the second quarter of its fiscal 2023. However, it reported a $113 million loss, compared to a $68.4 million loss for the year-ago quarter.

Asana’s Dustin Moskovitz

Dustin Moskovitz is Asana’s co-founder and CEO. At the time, he attributed growth to large enterprise deals and momentum in the United States.

The company works with channel and technology partners.

“We believe that Asana is the most scalable work management platform out there, as evidenced by our broad deployment and millions of users worldwide, including our largest customer deployment of over 100,000 paid seats,” Moskovitz said. “The market is ready and our customers are validating our strategy every day.”