- 🔴Recruiting & HR (90%) ─ Reason: Reduced hiring, excess internal overhead.
- 🔴Underperforming Sales & Account Management (85%) ─ Reason: Failed quotas, underperformed revenue targets.
- 🔴Middle Management (80%) ─ Reason: Flattened hierarchy, improved efficiency.
Layoffs & Culture at OpenText
THE NUMBERS
THE SCALE
HISTORY
- 🔴Junior/Mid-Level Software Engineers (80%) ─ Reason: Performance reviews, readily replaced.
- 🟡QA/Testing Engineers (75%) ─ Reason: Automate manual tasks, cost savings.
- 🟡Back-Office / Support Operations (70%) ─ Reason: Commoditized functions, efficiency drive.
- 🔴Mid-Level Management (88%) ─ Reason: Bloat in hierarchy, AI-driven efficiency demands.
- 🔴Legacy Technical Support & Operations (85%) ─ Reason: Outdated skills, AI automates routine tasks.
- 🔴Tier 1 Customer Service / Content Moderation (80%) ─ Reason: AI chatbots, offshore options, cost-cutting.
- 🔴Recruiting & Talent Acquisition (95%) ─ Reason: Hiring freeze makes role redundant.
- 🔴Sales Development Representative (SDR) (85%) ─ Reason: AI automates prospecting, new business frozen.
- 🔴Entry-Level Technical Support (80%) ─ Reason: AI solutions absorb basic inquiries.
- 🔴Administrative & Facilities (90%) ─ Reason: Physical infrastructure no longer needed.
- 🔴Sales Development Representatives (85%) ─ Reason: New client acquisition stalls drastically.
- 🔴Recruiting & Talent Acquisition (80%) ─ Reason: Hiring freezes, growth plans halted.
THE ANALYSIS
OpenText's workforce strategy from 2020 to 2026 reveals a pronounced trend of contraction and optimization rather than expansion. Initial adjustments in May 2020 saw global office closures and workforce reductions, setting a precedent for subsequent operational streamlining. This trajectory intensified into 2025, with a significant restructuring in May involving 1600 positions, explicitly linked to the company's embrace of artificial intelligence. The overarching rationale, articulated from January 2025, centers on an AI-first strategy, stipulating that no new positions will be created unless human intervention is deemed essential, thereby prioritizing technological leverage over human capital growth. This strategic pivot underpins a sustained drive for efficiency. Recent specifics underscore this persistent approach, with a planned quarterly firing policy for OpenText India commencing July 2025, and further workforce reductions anticipated in March 2026, characterized internally as part of a 'yearly spring cleaning' initiative. The cumulative evidence points to a deliberate, multi-year effort to recalibrate the workforce footprint, driven by technological integration and efficiency mandates.
OpenText has eliminated a total of 1,600 positions across 5 workforce events.













