CEO's letter to 1,800 laid off employees goes viral for being one of 'the worst takes ever'
A CEO’s letter laying off 1,800 workers is being rinsed online as one of “the worst takes ever” after it went viral.
It’s never fun finding out from your boss that you’re being let go and there is probably no nice way to find out.
But one employer has a lot of people unhappy with him after his method of firing staff ended up spreading across social media.
Advert
Sasan Goodarzi is the CEO of Intuit, a multinational business software company that specializes in financial software.
When he announced that 1,800 members of his company, which is the equivalent of 10% of the total workforce, would be losing their jobs, he revealed that it actually wasn’t a cost cutting exercise.
Instead, he admitted that the action would free up cash for “additional investments to our most critical areas to support our customers and drive growth as detailed below.”
He went on to say that: “As I've shared many times, the era of AI is one of the most significant technology shifts of our lifetime.
“This is truly an extraordinary time -- AI is igniting global innovation at an incredible pace, transforming every industry and company in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Companies that aren't prepared to take advantage of this AI revolution will fall behind and, over time, will no longer exist.”
He goes on to say that despite firing 1,800 people, he plans to hire the same amount in different areas of the company.
Goodarzi added: “We deeply understand the impact these decisions have on our friends and colleagues who will be leaving.
“We are very grateful for the great work they have done and the amazing contributions they have made while at Intuit.”
It’s safe to say that people haven’t been best pleased with the statement from the businessman.
Taking to Reddit to share their thoughts, one user posted quite a strong opinion: “I wish nothing but bankruptcy and collapse on stupid Intuit. The world doesn’t need it. Let Intuit die.”
Another said: “Intuit fell behind and has been eating its own tail for at least the last decade.”
Meanwhile a third added: “Funny how the CEO feels a need to defend job cuts as ‘it's not cos we're weak’. Who is he speaking to? The majority of us are told that business owners are job creators, that we tolerate their excesses and creaming off of the surplus, our working hours, because they keep everybody in work and doing productive things.
“Investors with spare capital want to hear the job cuts aren't a sign of weakness. For the rest of us, this is a direct threat. We will lose our jobs when the company flounders and also when the company does well. We can see what they want to do.
“Like Hamm says in Toy Story, ‘I don't think we should give [em] the chance’.”