Australian business media reported Xero offered 'low performer' employees in Australia a choice between a redundancy package or a 30-day performance improvement plan, a more aggressive approach than standard PIP processes. The move coincided with the board seeking shareholder support for a CEO pay increase for Sukhinder Singh Cassidy and a surge in stock-based compensation (up 58% to NZ$240.1 million, 43.3% of free cash flow), even as Xero's share price had fallen over 60% from its 2025 peak amid an AI-driven 'SaaSpocalypse' sell-off in software stocks. Reported employee morale concerns centered on the gap between the CEO's public praise of company culture and internal performance-management pressure combined with AI-driven engineering-role automation.
company
Xero
New Zealand-founded cloud accounting software company serving small businesses and accountants worldwide, listed on the ASX (dual-listed on NZX until 2018).