Datto confirms potential redundancies in UK workforce

Vendor says global restructuring part of adjustment to slower-than-expected growth due to pandemic

Datto has confirmed it has entered into a "30-day collective consultation period" with its UK employees amid global layoffs.

In a statement to CRN, Datto did not specify the number of people potentially being let go, but said the decision was made due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As the economic consequences of the global pandemic continue to unfold, Datto made the difficult decision to enter into a 30-day collective consultation period with some employees in the UK," stated Shoba Lemoine, Datto's director of communications.

"Datto had been aggressively expanding staff to meet accelerating growth, and is now adjusting to what will be a slower growth environment.

"We continue to invest in areas strategically important to the MSP partners that we serve and champion. Our partners can count on us to provide the same level of service as we support their vital efforts of keeping small and medium enterprises up and running in our communities through this crisis and beyond."

In a separate statement curculated to the press, CEO Tim Weller said the restructuring would reduce the vendor's headcount to what it was six months ago.

"Our hiring over the past six months anticipated a much higher rate of growth in 2020 than the managed service provider industry or Datto is now likely to see. Our actions mean rolling back our global team size to where it was six months ago," Weller told the outlet.

In an interview with CRN earlier this month, Weller - who took over as chief exec from founder Austin McChord last year - anticipated the MSP space coming out well the other side of the crisis.

"We've actually had fairly good sales in March and April - not on previous levels but better than I would have expected," he said.

"That tells me MSPs are selling; they're finding hospitals, they're finding companies that are doing well in this crisis and creating opportunities. So it's time to thinking about post-crisis, what's going to be working for MSPs and for SMBs. I'm very optimistic about the industry coming out of this crisis."