It’s undeniable that impact.com has a certain spark, a ‘thing’ that, whatever it is, separates us from some of the best companies in the industry. Over time, we’ve realized that the thing we have that makes us special, is the creativity, passion, willingness to help each other out, and tenacity to build something great. We see this every day in our employees. Together we believe that what we’ve built matters, that our customers matter, and that we can be part of something legendary, which makes this note so difficult to write.
It is with sad hearts that we inform you that we’ve had to make organizational changes and reduce the staffing level of the company. We developed a very ambitious plan for impact.com at the start of this year based on both our vision for the business as well as what the market was rewarding at the time. Halfway through our fiscal year now, it is very clear that macroeconomic conditions have changed in a once-in-a-generation way; therefore, we must change how we are operating the business going forward if we are to fully realize our vision of becoming the global standard platform for partnerships. As a result, we will eliminate roughly 10% of current positions in the company, and we feel compelled to share more information about how we arrived at this decision and what our employees should expect next.
How it happened
We started last year with a high-growth mentality — our goal was to exponentially scale as a company by growing and building out new teams, opening shop in new regions, and acquiring new businesses. The leadership team set aggressive hiring and growth targets, especially at the start of this year, to achieve this. In hindsight, significantly increasing our investment in hiring during worsening market conditions was the wrong choice, as we could not have predicted the full effect of the macroeconomic conditions we are all experiencing right now.
Actions taken
We took multiple measures first — from significantly slowing hiring, reducing discretionary and overhead expenses, limiting travel, along with a 15% pay cut for executive leadership — however, all of these reductions were not able to fully counterbalance the worsening market conditions. We do not take the idea of layoffs lightly; however, unfortunately, we could no longer avoid it. As we’ve all seen, what impact.com is experiencing is not unique. These conditions will affect or are affecting, every e-commerce business and the ecosystem that surrounds it, as many news outlets have already reported.
This isn’t an attempt to deflect the blame. It’s to show how these conditions have made it difficult to effectively manage our overall current employee expense levels. For a company that values lasting partnerships and collaboration, this news is hard to digest, and I know it will be harder for those colleagues who are leaving us.
How employees are being supported
We will support the transition of employees who are impacted by this decision as much as we can. Some were with the business for a long time, and even those who were ramping up deserve to be treated with the same courtesy and respect. It is our intention to treat all affected employees with the utmost respect, honor, and thankfulness for their contributions to the company and assist them in landing softly with their next opportunity.
In addition to severance benefits, the leadership team will help with career advice, writing letters of recommendation, and acting as references upon request. We are also offering a number of displacement services and will also reach out to colleagues outside of the business to help our colleagues secure new jobs. We invite all of our employees and colleagues in the industry to do the same.
What’s next
impact.com will weather this storm and come out on the other side by focusing on our clients and core business priorities. To those leaving us this week, we want to say thank you and we appreciate your contributions toward making impact.com what it is today. Thank you for making impact.com a special place that has that ‘thing;’ a company that we are proud to be part of every single day. Our story is extraordinary because all of our employees, past and present, have contributed to it.
Sincerely,
Dave & Per
