PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada apologized after quoting Martin Luther King Jr. while announcing that her company would implement mass layoffs.
Tejada revealed in a company memo last week that roughly 7% of positions at the cloud computing firm would be eliminated to reduce costs and improve return on investment.
“Like most technology companies, our most significant investment is our workforce,” she wrote. “These decisions were carefully considered and are necessary to set PagerDuty up for long term success, especially in the context of ongoing uncertainty.”
At the conclusion of the memo, however, Tejada cited the civil rights leader’s statement that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” She apologized three days later, calling the inclusion of the quote “inappropriate and insensitive.”
“The way I communicated layoffs distracted from our number one priority: showing care for the employees we laid off, and demonstrating the grace, respect, and appreciation they and all of you deserve,” she remarked. “There are a number of things I would do differently if I could. The quote I included from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was inappropriate and insensitive. I should have been more upfront about the layoffs in the email, more thoughtful about my tone, and more concise. I am sorry.”
The original announcement garnered backlash on social media. Meta Communications Manager Tom Gara called the memo an “all time classic bad layoff announcement” since the letter ran for 370 words before mentioning the layoffs, then continued for another 1,250 words.
Shares for PagerDuty have increased 4.7% over the five trading days since the initial announcement; the company’s stock price has fallen 12% over the past year, exceeding losses witnessed by the S&P 500 Index and the technology-heavy NASDAQ Composite.
The headcount reduction at PagerDuty follows the actions of other larger technology companies. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon revealed their intentions to decrease payrolls by more than 40,000 workers over the past few weeks. More than 58,000 workers have been discharged from prominent American technology companies in the first month of 2023, according to a report from Crunchbase, even after firms in the sector dismissed 140,000 positions last year.
Several investors have contended that Silicon Valley companies must reduce headcount to compensate for macroeconomic tumult following post-recession hiring sprees. The Children’s Investment Fund Management CEO Christopher Hohn called for Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to reduce headcount by another 25,000 workers, referencing excessive median salaries surpassing $300,000 and rapid growth in payrolls.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre deflected questions from journalists on whether the layoffs could be a bad omen for the rest of the economy. One reporter noted that President Joe Biden has appeared “quite optimistic” in his statements about the labor market and asked if the layoffs are a “matter of concern.” Jean-Pierre responded that the commander-in-chief watches closely “anytime there are reports of Americans losing their jobs.”
“More broadly speaking, layoffs remain near record lows according to job openings data,” she said. “Companies across the economy are continuing to grow and invest in the United States.”