Zendesk layoffs include director of sustainability

Zendesk’s February layoffs at its San Francisco headquarters included Shengyuan Su, director of sustainability for the customer support software firm.

The reduction in force affected about 50 employees, according to local news reports.

Zendesk, which had been a publicly traded company, went private in late 2022 in a $10 billion deal. The company employs an estimated 6,000 people.

Su joined Zendesk in May 2022 after five years as a sustainability manager at Salesforce.

She spearheaded Zendesk’s relationship with Frontier, the $1 billion carbon removal buyers initiative. 

Su also collaborated with Zendesk’s procurement team to launch an initiative in November that requires suppliers to set science-based targets for emission reductions by 2027 as part of their new contracts and renewals. 

The new clauses will apply to all suppliers, although Zendesk will prioritize enforcement with those that have the biggest contracts, Su told Trellis in late 2024.

An auto response to a message sent to Su’s email address last week indicated that she is no longer with the company, and Su confirmed she was part of the reduction in force.

Zendesk declined to comment on individual employment statuses or whether Su will be replaced. Environmental sustainability is part of the firm’s global communications and social impact team, created through a summer 2024 restructuring, Zendesk said in a statement. 

The group’s responsibilities include corporate volunteer efforts, charitable giving, pro-bono work, philanthropic activities and environmental sustainability.