As the tech layoff contagion reaches Australia shores, one Wollongong start-up has been able to avoid shedding staff as the business outlook turns dire.
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Last week, Australia tech success story Atlassian shed five per cent of its workforce, roughly 500 jobs. Accounting software business Xero also took the axe to 800 staff in the past week.
The local news followed major layoff across the tech sector in the US, with more than 100,000 workers losing their jobs, including at titans such as Google, Microsoft and Amazing.
This was a major turnaround from only a few months ago, when businesses were bemoaning a dearth of talent.
Atlassisn even took its search for staff to the road, with a mobile recruitment van stopping off in Wollongong as the company scouted for 1000 new workers to be part of 'Team Anywhere', its work from home friendly company ethos.
Nick Muldoon, co-founder of Wollongong based IT firm Easy Agile, which creates software for companies using Atlassian's software, said he was yet to have the hard conversation with staff members at the Regent Street-based business.
"The reason that we haven't found ourselves in that position is because we don't rely on other people's money to grow the business, and we run a profitable business," he said.
Like the other Australia tech success story Canva, Easy Agile is not listed on the stock market, avoiding short term pressure from investors, and also like Canva, is profitable - unlike many other tech start ups that burn through cash from venture capitalist investors before ever making a profit.
In contrast, Mr Muldoon said Easy Agile was growing its headcount, and in some respects benefiting from the layoffs elsewhere in the sector.
"We struggled to hire until the middle of last year, and then as Australian tech companies started to lay people off, we found it much easier to hire."
The company currently employs 44 people with 31 in Wollongong and the rest working remotely from Victoria to the Gold Coast. Since June 30, 2022, the company hired 14 staff.
The good news at Easy Agile comes as more businesses in the Illawarra look to lay off staff as the economic outlook darkens. Last week, figures from the local business chamber showed one in four businesses were thinking of closing and 37.8 per cent were thinking of cutting back staff if conditions did not improve after the state election.
Mr Muldoon said the speed of the turnaround from buoyant conditions in 2022 to the pessimism of 2023 had surprised the sector, but the availability of talent was a silver lining.
"It's been boom times for a long time with quantitative easing and capital has been free, essentially and it's just taking time for people to adjust," he said.
"But if other companies like Xero and Atlassian are letting go of team members, this is a great opportunity for us to get access to talent."
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