Shopify quietly lays off more customer support staff

by | Jan 27, 2025 | E-commerce News

Shopify laid off even more employees from its customer support division, according to Business Insider sources. It's not clear how many were let go, but one person familiar with the matter estimated that it was at least a dozen.

So what, right? 12 employees got let go from a company with over 8,000 workers? That's not exactly headline news. Or is it….

Three people told Business Insider that Shopify has quietly laid off workers several times since its major restructuring in May 2023, in a manner similar to this week's layoffs. It appears that instead of performing massive layoffs that garner media attention, Shopify has been slowly but surely churning customer support staff without replacing them. 

Here's a quick recap of recent layoffs and changes that have particularly impacted Shopify's customer support division: 

  • Several years ago, Shopify began embracing AI for customer support, as well as hiring third-party vendors from the Philippines and Canada to assist with customer-service tickets, which employees said contributed to a decline in overall quality in response.
  • In early 2023, the company began “Code Yellow,” a project aimed at improving customer service levels that leaders said had “deteriorated beyond acceptable ranges.”
  • In July 2022, Shopify laid off 10% of its workforce, or roughly 1,000 employees.
  • In May 2023, it cut an additional 20% of staff while also selling its newly acquired logistics business.
  • Shopify's support division experienced a lot of turnover in its management ranks in 2024, with former leaders Glen Worthington, Clovis Cuqui, and Jen Bebb all departing the company.

There was a period of time a couple years ago when I also became critical of Shopify's customer support, but I've since seen a noticeable improvement. At the end of the day, the dozen customer support employees that got let go might have just been terrible at their job! I think sometimes companies get a lot of heat for layoffs, despite the old saying, “Hire slow, fire quick.”

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