PagerDuty CEO quotes Martin Luther King Jr. in layoff email
The CEO of a United States-based company PagerDuty is facing backlash for quoting civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. in an email informing employees that the company was laying off 7% of its workforce. The tech company's CEO Jennifer Tejada, in her 1,700-word email, said that the management was making some changes, including cutting spending and promoting some executives.
PagerDuty CEO uses civil rights icon's quote in layoff announcement
Tejada's mail was also shared on PagerDuty's website, which said that this moment reminded her of a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that "the ultimate measure of a (leader) is not where (they) stand in the moments of comfort and convenience, but where (they) stand in times of challenge and controversy." Since then, the mail has triggered a massive backlash.
Tejada receives flak for 'tone deaf' mail
The CEO has been receiving a lot of flak on social media for being tone-deaf, while many pointed out how she used the term "refinements" instead of layoffs. The San Francisco-based company's CEO was also accused by many of using corporate jargon to sugarcoat the obvious, while others questioned if Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT wrote the mail instead.
Reaction to PagerDuty CEO's layoff mail
Reacting to Tejada's layoff mail, Tom Gara, technology communications manager at Meta, wrote on Twitter: "All time classic bad layoff announcement: CEO of PagerDuty opens with "Hi Dutonians," takes 370 words to get to the layoffs bit, continues for another *1250 words*, and ends with "I am reminded in moments like this, of something Martin Luther King said..."
Gara's tweet sharing a copy of the mail
Tejada apologizes for 'insensitive' mail to employees
Following the backlash, Tejada on Friday acknowledged that quoting Martin Luther King Jr. was "insensitive" and "inappropriate." She also highlighted the flowery tone in which the layoffs were declared. "I should have been more upfront about the layoffs in the email, more thoughtful about my tone, and more concise. I am sorry," the CEO wrote in her response.
Quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that Tejada used
In his speech at the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. said: "By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed-of levels of production." "Those who today attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them," he added.
Tech layoffs on the rise in 2023!
In these post-pandemic times, the tech meltdown has forced companies across the globe to reconsider their organizational layout. Companies, particularly those with multiple middle management levels, are currently questioning their requirements and seeking to minimize resource wastage. After a difficult 2022, tech giants like Meta, Google, Amazon, etc., have been laying off employees in big numbers.
