We have a new winner. In this season of tens of thousands of tech layoffs, I thought Twitter’s short, insensitive, anonymous layoff email was the worst possible. I was so wrong. PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada laid off 7% of the company’s workforce with an email that included this impressive list of sins: And . ….
Twitter is laying off thousands of employees starting today. Its email to employees is horrific. Start with this: the letter did not come from Elon Musk or, apparently, anyone: it’s just from “Team” with the same text sent to every employee in the company. This is cowardly and an unnecessary; every knows who’s responsible. Breaking…
In 30 years of working for companies, I’ve seen a dozen layoffs. And I’ve observed dozens more at companies I was following closely. Why do companies choose to dump staff they’ve invested so much effort in hiring and training? The answer, more often than not, is an inevitable consequence of how companies plan for growth….
Once again, let’s take a look at an Elon Musk missive. This time he’s laying off 10% of Tesla’s salaried workers. Here’s the internal email, according to CNBC: To: EverybodySubject: Headcount ReductionDate: Friday, June 3, 2022 Tesla will be reducing salaried headcount by 10% as we have become overstaffed in many areas. Note this does…
It’s a brutal time for travel, and Airbnb is no exception. It’s laying off 1,900 people, 25% of its staff. But the way that CEO Brian Chesky did it is exemplary — with compassion and a clear explanation. There was no way that Airbnb would survive the pandemic unscathed. Revenue had been cut in half….
Millions of people are losing their jobs. That means corporations need to inform them they’re out of work. Carta did its layoffs well, while Bird behaved abominably. Bird shows how a corporation can behave like an ass There’s not much demand for sidewalk scooter rentals right now. As a result, the scooter company Bird laid…
In a layoff, a company gets rid of people to boost profits. Everyone knows it; no one ever actually says it. Except Elon Musk. Rather than using corporate layoff doublespeak like downsize, rightsize, and RIF (reduction in force), why not tell the truth? Take a look at what Musk said and how he said it. Tesla’s stock price took a…
UK retailer Tesco laid off 1,200 people, one-quarter of its headquarters staff. Its layoff announcements have become perfunctory and heartless. Should we praise the company’s honesty? Here’s the public statement from Tesco, as reported in The Independent: This is a significant next step to continue the turnaround of the business. This new service model will…
PR people, if you have something unpleasant to say, just say it. Hiding it behind euphemisms doesn’t fool anyone. Today’s case study: Ford’s plan to lay off 10% of its staff, which it calls a “people efficiency action.” According to a Wall Street Journal article, Ford will cut 10% of its global workforce to boost profits, with…