A US tech company is to cut 142 jobs at its Dublin office, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke has confirmed.
Workday, which has been present in Ireland since 2008, outlined plans earlier this month to cut 1,750 positions globally, or 8.5 per cent of its current workforce.
Staff were told by chief executive Carl Eschenbach the cuts were necessary to “better align our resources with our customers' evolving needs.”
Mr Eschenbach added that the increasing demand for AI “has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.”
Its Dublin office, Workday’s headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, currently employs more than 2,000 people.
Last week, the Department of Enterprise received a collective redundancy notification indicating that 142 Dublin-based staff are to be made redundant by the company as part of its global downsizing, Mr Burke told the Dáil on Tuesday.
“My foremost concern is with those employees and their families who will now be directly impacted. Government will be on hand to provide support to those who need it,” he said.
Mr Burke said it is the first major layoff in Workday’s history.
“The company has said that it announced these plans as it is seeking to pivot structures and resources to prioritise investments such as AI. Consequently, this will negatively impact on certain roles as the company restructures,” he said.
The minister added that Workday has indicated it will continue to invest in strategic areas of the business and prioritise resources and structures to meet customer and market demands.
“In these regards, Ireland is Workday’s European EMEA headquarters and also a significant product and engineering hub, thus making it a really highly strategic location for the company,” he said.
Asked about the redundancies, a spokesman for Workday said it would not be commenting.
