Music streaming business Spotify has pledged to continue offering healthcare and provide severance pay after announcing plans to cut 600 jobs globally.
In a blog post to staff, its CEO Daniel Ek revealed that the company had made “the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our number of employees” in a bid to bring its costs more in line.
He said: “While it is clear this path is the right one for Spotify, it doesn’t make it any easier – especially as we think about the many contributions these colleagues have made.”
All employees affected will receive severance pay starting with a baseline for all staff, with the average worker being awarded around five months of severance based on tenure and local notice period requirements and employee tenure.
They will also receive pay for accrued and unused annual leave and healthcare during their severance period, as well as immigration and career support in the form of outplacement services for two months.
Spotify, which has roughly 700 employees in the UK and had approximately 9,800 full-time staff globally as of September 2022, expects its severance-related charges to total around 35-45 million euros (£31–£40m).
Ek added: “I take full accountability for the moves that got us here today. My focus now is on ensuring that every employee is treated fairly as they depart.”
The move by Stockholm-based Spotify is the latest in a whole host of job cuts across the tech sector, at companies including Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta.
