PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada faces backlash after writing ‘deaf firing email’

The CEO of San Francisco-based cloud computing company PagerDuty is coming under fire after she included an inspiring quote from black civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. while firing her co-workers.

Jennifer Tejada has been criticized for her insensitivity on social media after sending an email to employees announcing layoffs that included the quote.

In the email, Tejada announced that the company would “refine” its business structure by cutting 7 percent of its global workforce.

“We hope to finish the year strong; in fact, today we have reaffirmed our guidance for fiscal year 23, and those results, combined with the improvements described above, put PagerDuty in a strong position to successfully execute our platform strategy, regardless of what the market brings and the macroenvironment’, stated Tejada.

Executive director Jennifer Tejada ended her email to staff announcing layoffs with a quote from a sermon delivered by King, later included in the 1959 book The Measure of a Man.

“At times like this, I remember something Martin Luther King said, that ‘the last measure of a [leader] it’s not where [they] stand at moments of comfort and convenience, but where [they] resist in times of challenge and controversy,’ Tejada wrote.

Tejada’s communication oscillates between corporate language, such as calling the layoffs ‘refinements,’ along with upbeat comments about the ‘deeply talented individuals we #BringThemselves’ to work for, which comes after a series of tech layoffs that have drawn criticism. for lacking compassion and humanity. .

The ‘refinement’ of 7 precent refers to the fact that the company laid off 66 people out of the 950 it had employed a year ago.

Backlash to the use of the quote in the email came quickly with one Twitter user calling it “the loudest firing email” they had ever seen.

‘The loudest firing email I’ve read so far… comes from PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada. The email is very long and feels like it was written by an AI that took all the phrases people usually say and put them into one long email,” wrote Gergely Orosz.

All-time classic bad layoff ad: PagerDuty CEO opens with ‘Hello Dutonians’, needs 370 words to get to the layoff part, continues with another *1250 words* and ends with ‘Remember me in moments like this, something Martin Luther King said…’ declared Tom Gara

A Twitter user posted a screenshot of a Google search showing Tejada’s annual salary at $13.2 million.

‘Did Pagerduty seriously decide it was a good idea to quote MLK in a press release where they are laying off 7% of their workforce?’ Pete Cheslock asked.

‘Maybe don’t quote MLK when laying off 7% of your workforce?’ suggested Noah Chestnut.

‘Did Pagerduty seriously decide it was a good idea to quote MLK in a press release where they are laying off 7% of their workforce?’ Pete Cheslock asked.

‘Maybe don’t quote MLK when laying off 7% of your workforce?’ suggested Noah Chestnut.

All-time classic bad layoff ad: PagerDuty CEO opens with ‘Hello Dutonians’, needs 370 words to get to the layoff part, continues with another *1250 words* and ends with ‘Remember me in moments like this, something Martin Luther King said…’ said Tom Gara.

Some social media users also pointed to Tejada’s annual salary of $13.2 million.

The company had previously reported revenue of $94.2 million for the most recent quarter and a net loss of $32.8 million.

Twitter users’ disbelief continued to note the clash in the tone of Tejada’s email and MLK’s values.

Twitter users’ disbelief continued to note the clash in the tone of Tejada’s email and MLK’s values.

‘Next time fire people on Twitter and save even more time!’ suggested Paula Des.

“Awww what inspiring PC-esque layoffs, classic Millennial tone-deaf email,” Trent Zent sneered.

‘Are you the lady who never really had to cite MLK while you were laying off 7 percent of your employees? Just out of curiosity, no one ever told you, ‘Hey Jen, I’d miss the MLK date. The hundreds of people you just fired probably won’t appreciate it, and neither will you. Tone U dumb dumb,” Keyser McSoze advised.

‘OMG, are you the woman who compared herself to MLK’s leadership vision to fire a bunch of their employees? Thank you for your courage and leadership! MLK would definitely have chosen profits over people as well,” Gabriel Kahn sneered.