Stripe is laying off approximately 300 people this week, and the payment technology company seems to have made a royal gaffe in executing the firings. Business Insider reports that employees affected by layoffs received a PDF image of a duck in their emails, as well as a termination date that was not correct.
A spokesperson for Stripe confirmed the flub to Business Insider and said a follow-up email corrected the error. Stripe says it still plans to grow its headcount this year to reach 10,000.
On Blind, a discussion board where employees of the tech industry can speak anonymously, Stripe staffers joked somebody should quickly make a custom duck emoji in the company’s Slack.
The tech industry has undergone unprecedented layoffs in recent years after nearly two decades of growth, and the mass firings—necessitated by extreme over-hiring during the pandemic—have not always been implemented smoothly. One common occurrence is employees waking up to find their work devices simply will not turn on, or they arrive at the office and try to badge in, only to see their access key does not work. Incorrect information is sometimes delivered to impacted employees, or layoff emails are sent to work accounts just as employees are cut off from accessing them.
Better.com’s CEO received intense heat and took a leave of absence after he laid off 900 people over Zoom, a call during which he accused the affected employees of “stealing” by not working hard enough. The CEO of PagerDuty quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in her email laying off staff.
Overall, the power has shifted back from tech workers to employers since a string of mass layoffs began in late 2022. No longer can employees protest their companies signing up contracts with the Pentagon, or fight for DEI and other initiatives. For all but the very best, the job market in tech is not that great anymore, and the leadership’s disregard for employees’ concerns is evident.
Stripe CEO Patrick Collison took tremendous heat in late 2024 over a post he shared on X of him on a run in Tel Aviv, saying it was “great to be back.” Ireland, where Collison is from and Stripe maintains offices, has been a vocal critic of Israel throughout its war on Gaza. His company remains strong, with Stripe garnering a valuation reportedly over $70 billion.
Great to be back in Tel Aviv. I missed this run. pic.twitter.com/xc4LP1MkQm
— Patrick Collison (@patrickc) November 27, 2024
Read the full article here
