Video communication firm Zoom is reducing its workforce by approximately 1,300 people as the demand for its video-conferencing services slows with the receding of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a message to employees on the company's official blog, CEO Eric Yuan said that the company will be cutting its "team by approximately 15% and say goodbye to around 1,300 hardworking, talented colleagues."

"Departing full-time employees at Zoom, nicknamed "Zoomies" by the CEO, will receive up to 16 weeks of salary and healthcare benefits in the US. The fiscal 2023 annual bonus, based on company performance, as well as restricted stock units (RSUs) and stock options will also vest for six months for US employees and through August 9, 2023 for non-US employees.

According to Yuan, support for departing Zoomies in other countries will be comparable and will follow local laws."

The recent lay-offs at Zoom join a growing number of tech firms reducing their workforce due to a slowdown in business following the surge during the COVID-19 pandemic.​

"We built Zoom to remove the friction that businesses felt when collaborating. Our trajectory was forever changed during the pandemic when the world faced one of its toughest challenges, and I am proud of the way we mobilized as a company to keep people connected. To make this possible, we needed to staff up rapidly to support the quick rise of users on our platform and their evolving needs. Within 24 months, Zoom grew 3x in size to manage this demand while enabling continued innovation", he wrote in the blog post.

He further commented, "As the world transitions to life post-pandemic, we are seeing that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom. But the uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard – yet important – look inward to reset ourselves so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision."

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Yuan added, "As the CEO and founder of Zoom, I am accountable for these mistakes and the actions we take today– and I want to show accountability not just in words but in my own actions. To that end, I am reducing my salary for the coming fiscal year by 98% and foregoing my FY23 corporate bonus. Members of my executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20% for the coming fiscal year while also forfeiting their FY23 corporate bonuses."

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