Chiefa professional network designed for women in leadership today cut 14% of its workforce, or 43 jobs, saying in an email from australiabusinessblog.com that the move is in response to the economy and that the outfit is being restructured to expand further to focus on the member experience .

The layoff largely affected Chief’s US employees as the company’s newly launched UK presence is smaller. Approximately 262 employees will remain with the company. Those affected received at least 12 weeks of severance pay and continued health insurance. Chief closed his New York office today as employees process the news.

Lead co-founders Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers wrote the email to staff explaining the decision. In addition to attributing the “challenging macroeconomic environment” that has plagued a large number of tech startups over the past year, the duo highlighted four priorities for the company’s future: increasing personal opportunities, personalizing to support members, simplifying the digital experience, and finally, to continue to “embed diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging in all aspects of the Chief experience.”

The latest priority highlighted by the co-founders — to bring diversity to all Chief experiences — comes less than a month after the New York Times published a story investigating the concern in the company over some members’ view that Chief should speak out on social and economic issues affecting marginalized women. Approximately 33% of Chief’s membership base identifies as being from a diverse background, up from 35% in October. The company recently reached 20,000 members.

At last year’s australiabusinessblog.com Disrupt, Chief’s co-founders talked about the “extra attention” given to mission-oriented companies. “For Lindsay and I, that’s always been at the forefront of everything we’ve thought about as we’ve been thinking about the teams and the culture and what we want to build,” said Childers. “We’ve actually felt that more because we’re a mission-based company than because we’re female CEOs or founders.”

Kaplan added that the additional investigation “doesn’t feel like a ticking time bomb. It’s up to us to make sure we always walk the walk and practice what we preach.

Chief clearly wants employees, members and the world to know that it is focused on experience. The headcount cut comes a week after the company announced it had hired another executive: Sujean Lee, former chief experience officer at HypeBeast, as Chief’s first-ever chief experience officer.

The company reached a valuation of $1.1 billion in three years, last raising a $100 million Series B round led by Alphabet’s CapitalG in 2022. Like many others, valuations have become increasingly difficult to defend as the market is deteriorating. For example, 70% of Chief members see their membership, which costs up to $7,900 annually, paid for by employers. Now those same employers are looking to cut costs and reduce their workforce themselves.

Chief declined to comment on the layoff and finances outside of the email.