An online worker training platform is called Guild. On May 22, 2024, it sent an unpleasant message to its staff by stating that a quarter of them would be laid off.
The company should have disclosed how many employees would be laid off. However, based on an estimated headcount of 1,200 employees, approximately 300 people may have lost their jobs.
The current round of Guild layoffs comes a year after the company laid off 172 employees or around 12% of its staff of over 1,400 people. Colorado was home to around half of its workers at the time. In this article, we learn more about the layoffs at Guild.
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About Guild Education
The Guild is formerly called Guild Education. It is a private enterprise based in Denver, Colorado. It is utilized by Fortune 1000 businesses to manage educational assistance benefits. Guild works with corporate employer clients to enable direct payment of courses to education provider clients. The organization provides marketing services to the education provider’s clients.
According to Forbes and Bloomberg, Guild is worth $4.4 billion as of June 2022. Guild Education cut its Denver office space in half in November 2022. According to Fortune, Guild Education will rebrand as Guild in April 2023 and introduce “a new career coaching product.”
The guild will cut its workforce by 12% in May 2023. It laid off around 150 people after many rounds of reorganization. In October 2023, Guild launched AI training for workers on the front lines via its education provider clients. The guild has already linked millions of frontline employees at Chipotle and Walmart to tuition-free, certified educational, and career-changing courses.
Guild, popular among investors, became a unicorn in 2019 after being valued at a billion dollars. In April 2024, Bijal Shah was appointed CEO, formerly by founder Rachel Romer.
The guild has been famous among investors since it was founded in 2015. This includes raising $175 million in a round in 2022 that included Oprah Winfrey. It is a rapidly developing technology company. The company was a success among Colorado tech startups. Also, it was one of just a few unicorns led by a woman.
Education tech firm Guild layoffs 2023
Guild laid off 12% of its employees in May 2023, following years of rapid growth. On May 24, 2023, CEO and co-founder Rachel Romer wrote to staff, saying,
“I’m writing with a heavy heart today to inform you that we’ve made a difficult choice. We are removing 172 roles at Guild. It is a part of a broader reorganization of the company around our 3-year strategy and 10-year goals.”
The company employed 1,400 people nationwide, including 730 in Colorado. It has a long list of high-profile clients, including Walmart. Walmart hired it 2018 to develop a program that allowed the retail giant’s 1.4 million employees to earn a college degree while still working.
Laid-off employees will receive three months’ compensation plus an additional week each year at Guild. They will also receive six months’ medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums. It also gives departing employees two years to execute their stock options rather than the standard three months.
The Guild will continue to provide tuition assistance to former employees’ children until they reach adulthood. It is for those who have registered in its Beehive child care program. The business will also provide job transition assistance internally through Mercer, an outside agency, and its alum network.
Guild layoffs 2024
On May 22, 2024 (Wednesday), Denver-based Guild gave its employees an awful truth by declaring that a quarter of them would be laid off.
“As Guild’s business grows, we must ensure that we carry out our goals as efficiently and effectively as possible. To achieve our high goals, we announced to staff that we had decided to restructure our company. This restructuring led to a decline in our workforce,” Guild CEO Bijal Shah said in a statement on Wednesday.
Shah stated that the restructuring would help the company
- operate more efficiently,
- innovate faster, and
- continue to deliver solid results for our stakeholders.
Laid-off employees are offered several months of severance pay and job transition assistance. The company provides a window of opportunity for them to exercise their interest in the company.
Conclusion
The Guild’s platform has around 2,000 courses. It serves various significant organizations, including Walmart, Target, Taco Bell, and Chipotle. Career coaches and “upskill” modules are
Among the training options available in Guild is to help employees advance to college-level courses.
Rachel Romer, daughter of Chris Romer and granddaughter of former Colorado Governor Roy Romer, co-founded Guild in 2015. She led the company to a $4.4 billion valuation, making it one of Colorado’s digital unicorns. This unicorn now joins a long list of tech companies shedding workers.
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