Who's Axing HR? List of Companies That Have Cut Down Their HR Teams
Amazon, Google, Boeing, Airbnb, and Bolt — these are not small companies experimenting with unconventional structures. These are some of the most recognised names in global business. And they all made cuts to their HR and recruiting teams within months of each other.
During the pandemic years, many companies hired aggressively. Growth projections were high, remote work opened access to new talent pools, and companies built large HR and recruiting teams to manage that growth. But then the economic environment changed. Interest rates rose, advertising revenues softened, and growth projections were revised downward. The large teams that had been built to manage rapid headcount growth suddenly looked oversized relative to how much hiring was actually happening.
"HR is the wrong energy, format and approach."
— Ryan Breslow, CEO, BoltBolt: The Most Egregious Case
In 2026, Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow eliminated the company's entire HR department and celebrated it publicly. Speaking at Fortune's Workforce Innovation Summit, he said that HR "were creating problems that didn't exist." On LinkedIn, he went further, calling HR "the wrong energy, format and approach." Breslow offered no specifics — no examples of the problems HR created, and no evidence that removing the function improved measurable outcomes.
The timing tells a more uncomfortable story. Breslow made these remarks just one month after laying off roughly 30% of employees, amid reports that Bolt had offered some employees equity instead of salary, while some contractors went unpaid. Eliminating the HR team in that context did not signal a leaner, more agile company. It signalled a company removing the very function responsible for protecting employees at the exact moment employees needed protection most.
Airbnb: A Leaner Hiring Plan
In March 2023, Airbnb cut 30% of its recruiting staff, affecting 0.4% of its total workforce of 6,800. Airbnb stated it had "become a leaner and more focused company" and expected to grow headcount in the year ahead — but at a slower pace of 2%–4%, compared with 11% growth the previous year. Recruiting teams grow when hiring grows, and contract when hiring slows. That is not a sign that HR lacks value — it is good operational management.
Amazon: Macro-Driven Reductions
In 2023, Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky and HR head Beth Galetti sent notes to employees in the US, Canada, and Costa Rica informing them of job cuts. Selipsky wrote that given "the overall business and macroeconomic climate," the company had to focus resources on its top priorities — in some cases shifting teams, and in others eliminating roles entirely.
"Over time, some of our corporate functions have grown quite large. And with that, growth tends to come with bureaucracy or disparate systems that are inefficient."
— Mike Friedman, Communications Director, BoeingBoeing: Outsourcing vs. Elimination
Boeing took a different approach — outsourcing. The company confirmed cuts of approximately 2,000 jobs in its finance and HR departments, with about 15% of the HR workforce affected. Roughly one-third of these roles were outsourced to Tata Consultancy Services in India. Boeing's case raises an important distinction: outsourcing HR transactions such as data entry, basic admin, and process management is not the same as outsourcing HR strategy. Many organisations outsource the transactional layer to free internal professionals for higher-value work.
Google: Fewer Hires, Fewer Recruiters
Alphabet announced layoffs primarily affecting employees in Google's recruiting and human resources functions. As fewer employees were being hired, the company no longer needed as large a recruiting team. Google confirmed it would provide affected employees with severance packages and other benefits and would help place workers into new roles. CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged the human cost directly, writing that he was "deeply sorry" for the impact on the people affected.
The Final Verdict
Every company on this list made a mistake. They cut the function responsible for protecting their people — the teams that managed compliance, handled employee grievances, ensured fair pay, and held the organisation accountable to its own values. Airbnb called it "leaner." Boeing called it "streamlining." Bolt called HR "the wrong energy." These are polished ways of saying the same thing: we deprioritised our people. And that is never a decision without consequences.
When HR shrinks or disappears, employees lose their voice. Misconduct goes unaddressed, pay inequity goes unchecked, legal risk accumulates quietly, and the culture that took years to build starts to erode — until the best people start leaving, and nobody can explain why.
Not a verdict on HR's value. The wave of HR cuts at Bolt, Amazon, Google, Airbnb, and Boeing was largely a course correction after pandemic-era over-hiring — not proof that the function is unnecessary.
Recruiting scales with hiring volume. When hiring slows, recruiting teams shrink. That is not a sign that HR lacks value — it is good operational management responding to business conditions.
Outsourcing transactions ≠ removing strategy. Boeing's move to outsource HR admin to Tata Consultancy Services can free internal professionals for higher-value work — but only when that distinction is communicated clearly.
Bolt's case is categorically different. Eliminating the entire HR department one month after laying off 30% of staff — amid reports of unpaid contractors — removed employee protection at the exact moment it was needed most.
The consequences accumulate quietly. When HR disappears, misconduct goes unaddressed, legal risk builds, and culture erodes. The best employees leave first — and no one can explain why.