PayPal to cut 205 jobs in Ireland as tech losses worsen

Staff at PayPal have been told 205 jobs are at risk as part of a global reduction. It will bring the total number employed in Ireland to 1,600. That’s well down on the around 2,000 staff the business had in Ireland at the start of last year. The decrease is mostly a result of people leaving and not being replaced.

The new proposed round of job cuts is subject to consultation, and the company said no redundancies will take effect until after a consultation process has concluded. That’s likely to mean the jobs that are cut will go at the end of March.

PayPal closed its Dundalk office last year, with all staff there moving to remote working, and it relocated its Dublin office.

This week PayPal President & CEO Alex Chriss announced plans to reduce the group’s global workforce.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed the proposed job losses.

“We are doing this to allow us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth. At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth,” they said.

The company said it remains committed to Ireland as a base and will continue to recruit for some roles.

The news comes as Salesforce is also moving to let some Dublin-based staff go as part of a new round of lay-offs at the tech firm.

It’s the third time in 12 months that Salesforce has cut Irish staff after 200 were let go last January, with more affected in August.

Staff inside the firm told the Irish Independent a number of management staff have been consulted on the proposed cuts and that the figure is likely to be over 30.

Salesforce employs almost 2,000 people in Ireland.

Earlier this week US news outlets reported the company would let go of 1pc of its global workforce, amounting to around 700 people.

Marc Benioff’s software firm recently developed a new campus in Dublin’s docklands, which acts as its European headquarters and which can accommodate over 3,000 workers.

So far this year the list of tech firms with Irish offices that have announced lay-offs includes Citrix, Google, Amazon, eBay, Microsoft, PayPal, SAP and Three.

In most cases they have cited either a reorganisation of company activities or trimming of departments after pandemic-related hiring booms. Under Irish employment law, multinationals are obliged to inform the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment when embarking on a significant round of lay-offs, usually defined as more than 30.

Salesforce has seen its US share price rise by 80pc over the last year, twice as fast as the Nasdaq average.

However, it saw a decline in sales growth.

The company still lists 64 open roles to be filled on the jobs site indeed.com.

“The Department received a collective redundancy notification in relation to potential redundancies at Salesforce Ireland on 30th January 2024,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.