The top of a San Francisco-based cloud computing firm was extensively mocked on social media when she despatched an electronic mail to workers saying layoffs whereas quoting the late Martin Luther King Jr.
Jennifer Tejada, the CEO of PagerDuty, was blasted for being “tone-deaf” after she sent a lengthy, 1,669-word email to her workers saying that the corporate could be “refining” its enterprise construction by slashing 7% of its world workforce.
Tejada ended the memo with a quote from a sermon delivered by King, which was later included within the 1959 guide “The Measure of a Man.”
“I’m reminded in moments like this, of one thing Martin Luther King mentioned, that ‘the final word measure of a [leader] just isn’t the place [they] stand within the moments of consolation and comfort, however the place [they] stand in occasions of problem and controversy,’” Tejada wrote.
The cold-hearted govt was instantly scorched on social media
One Twitter consumer commented that it was “probably the most tone-deaf layoff electronic mail I learn up to now,” including that it “feels prefer it was written by an AI that took all of the phrases that folks normally say, and put it in a single lengthy electronic mail.”
One Twitter consumer supplied some recommendation to PagerDuty, writing: “Perhaps don’t quote MLK when firing 7% of your workforce?”
One other Twitter consumer posted a screenshot of a Google search which confirmed that Tejada’s annual wage was $13.2 million.
“Did Pagerduty significantly resolve it was a good suggestion to cite MLK in a press launch the place they’re shedding 7% of their workforce?” one other Twitter consumer questioned.
The 7% “refinement” meant the corporate fired 66 folks out of the 950 it employed a yr in the past.
Tejada was additionally criticized for utilizing the event to rejoice worker promotions and tout the agency’s optimistic monetary outcomes for the fourth quarter of final yr.
Final month, PagerDuty reported that it generated income of $94.2 million for the latest quarter — a year-over-year enhance of 31.3%. The corporate additionally mentioned that its internet loss for a similar quarter amounted to $32.8 million — which was greater than the yr earlier than.
“We count on to complete the yr robust — in reality, we’ve got reaffirmed our steerage for FY23 at the moment — and people outcomes, mixed with the refinements outlined above, put PagerDuty able of power to efficiently execute on our platform technique no matter what the market and the macroenvironment carry,” Tejada wrote within the electronic mail earlier this week.
The Submit has sought remark from PagerDuty.
Tejada did seem to try to present sensitivity to those that had been let go, writing: “I regard Dutonians as greater than workers; they’re completed, deeply proficient people who #BringThemselves and drive the innovation and tradition behind our services to ship experiences that delight our prospects.”
“I respect each Dutonian’s contribution to PagerDuty,” the CEO wrote.
“It’s my expectation that we present all of our colleagues the grace, respect, and dignity they’ve earned.”
Tejada wrote that “as somebody who has labored on this business for many years, I’ve skilled this earlier than and it’s by no means simple, and I additionally know from expertise that whereas we could not work collectively within the quick time period, {our relationships} and this group dwell past our tenure at PagerDuty.”
Those that had been canned might be given a severance with a mean of 11 weeks pay in addition to prolonged healthcare protection for themselves and their dependents “for no less than three to 4 months.”
Fired workers had been additionally promised help with future job placement.
The tech business has been hit exhausting by the financial downturn — forcing corporations to put off tens of 1000’s.
A former Google worker posted a TikTok video this week which confirmed the second she realized she was one among 12,000 workers being let go by the tech behemoth.
Different tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, Meta, and Snap have additionally laid off large numbers of employees in latest months.
