Title: An Unintended Duck Image Garners Laughter During Stripe Layoff Announcements
Stripe, the digital payment processing company, is in hot water this week after accidentally laying off around 300 employees. The fumble started when affected employees received an email containing a PDF picture of a duck and an incorrect termination date. A Stripe spokesperson confirmed the blunder to Business Insider, adding that a follow-up email corrected the error. Despite the slip-up, Stripe is still aiming to expand its team to 10,000 people this year.
On the employee discussion board Blind, Stripe staffers joked about creating a custom duck emoji for the company's Slack. The tech industry has witnessed a wave of layoffs lately, which isn't always handled smoothly. Employees might wake up to find their devices won't turn on or discover their access keys don't work. Delivering incorrect information, sending layoff emails to work accounts just as employees lose access, and implementing layoffs over Zoom have become common occurrences.
As for the tech industry's leadership, its disregard for employees' concerns is noticeable. Companies no longer face pressure to abandon Pentagon contracts or fight for diversity initiatives, and the job market is less favorable for the majority of tech workers.
Stripe CEO Patrick Collison faced backlash in 2024 for sharing a post of himself running in Tel Aviv. Collison, who hails from Ireland, has been vocal against Israel's actions in Gaza. Despite the criticism, Stripe remains a strong company, boasting a reported valuation of over $70 billion.
Tech companies have been shedding workers since the mid-2020s, with the pandemic leading to a surge in hiring and subsequent layoffs. While it's challenging to quantify the frequency of errors during layoffs, several trends indicate they are common and can severely impact both employees and companies' reputations.
Common mistakes include failing to communicate effectively with employees, providing little to no explanation for the layoffs, neglecting support for those affected, failing to provide progress reports, and treating laid-off employees poorly. The public scrutiny, union involvement, media tracking, and HR best practices are some industry responses to these incidents.
References:
[1] "Stripe Fires 300 Workers And It Couldn't Have Been More Clownish If It Tried," Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/stripe-layoffs-notice-workers-duck-image-2022-11
[2] "Layoffs: Common mistakes and best practices for handling them," Work It Daily, https://workitdaily.com/layoffs-mistakes-best-practices/
[3] "Layoffs in the tech industry: trends and consequences," InformationWeek, https://www.informationweek.com/layoffs-in-the-tech-industry-trends-and-consequences/
[4] "WGA East criticizes NowThis for laying off newsroom staff," The Hollywood Reporter, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wga-east-criticizes-nowthis-layoffs-1142046
In the midst of the tech industry's ongoing layoff wave, Stripe aims to increase its team size to 10,000 people by the end of this year, demonstrating a forward-thinking approach towards technology and employment. As the industry advances, there's a growing need for companies to adopt more humane and transparent practices during layoffs, avoiding common errors that can damage both employee well-being and corporate reputations.