A Calgary tech company says weak market conditions are to blame for its decision to lay off 14 percent of its workforce this week.
Benevity, a company that provides transaction processing services for charitable campaigns, announced the news on Wednesday, saying that a previous decision to “significantly increase” its workforce may have been premature.
“The hard reality is that as a company we are overbuilt for current market conditions,” said CEO Kelly Schmitt in an online statement.
“With that, we have made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our team by 14 percent, and today we are saying goodbye to 137 passionate Benevity-ites in the process.
“I am truly sorry that we’ve come to this point, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”
Schmitt says each employee who is being laid off will be meeting with senior leaders to discuss transition options. She says those workers will be offered extended health benefits, career transition support, ownership of company laptops and “generous severance” packages.
“To our teammates who are leaving today, we are truly grateful for your contributions to Benevity, our culture and our moonshot – we are proud of the impact that we have made together,” she said.
‘TECH SECTOR IS NOT IMMUNE’
The Alberta NDP says they are disappointed to hear of the news of the layoffs at Benevity.
In a statement, economic development and innovation critic Deron Bilous said the news is difficult to hear in the midst of the affordability crisis.
“Our economy is facing headwinds as we head into 2023, and despite growth in the last couple of years, the tech sector is not immune. The layoffs at Benevity follow reports of layoffs at other Calgary-based tech companies in recent weeks,” he said.
Bilous also pointed some of the blame at the UCP government.
“Rather than supporting the tech sector, the UCP declared economic diversification a luxury and canceled tax credits that created instability in the sector and drove out investment.
“As a result, tech investment continues to lag much of the rest of the country and fails to keep pace on a per capita basis.”
CTV News has reached out to the Alberta government for comment about the layoffs.
Benevity set up shop in Calgary in 2008, offering charitable-donation management and grant-management platforms to businesses. It is one of Western Canada’s largest tech startups.
Its head office is located in Bridgeland.