PagerDuty CEO Faces Backlash For Quoting Martin Luther Jr In Layoff Email

US-based IT company Pagerduty's CEO Jennifer Tejada faced massive backlash after she quoted Martin Luther King, Jr in an email to employees that announced seven per cent lay-offs in the workforce. Many accused her email of being the "most tone-deaf layoff email," as per a report in CBS News.

In a 1,700-word email, Ms Tejada announced a few other changes, including the promotion of some executives and the reduction in spending. The email was also made available on the company's website. She addressed the employees as 'Dutonians' and used the word 'refinement' for layoffs.

The CEO said towards the end of the announcement that the occasion reminded her of a quote from Martin Luther King Jr that "the ultimate measure of a (leader) is not where (they) stand in the moments of comfort and convenience, but where (they) stand in times of challenge and controversy." 

"'We expect to finish the year strong - in fact, we have reaffirmed our guidance for FY23 today - and those results, combined with the refinements outlined above, put PagerDuty in a position of strength to successfully execute on our platform strategy regardless of what the market and the macroenvironment bring," Ms Tejada stated in the email. 

Many users slammed her for announcing and celebrating promotions to some employees in the same mail which talked about the reduction of the workforce. Several labelled the email as "tone deaf" and "disgusting," according to the outlet. 

The email, which alternates between grim corporate jargon like "refinements" and upbeat remarks about the "deeply talented individuals who #BringThemselves" to work, comes after a string of tech layoffs that have been ridiculed as lacking compassion and humanity. 

"The big tech layoff email has become a genre worthy of mockery and parody. The only problem is that the emails are often more self-parodying than anything a satire site can come up with," said a user.

All time classic bad layoff announcement: CEO of PagerDuty opens with "Hi Dutonians," takes 370 words to get to the layoffs bit, continues for another *1250 words*, and ends with "I am reminded in moments like this, of something Martin Luther King said..." https://t.co/OAg4SjqYIm pic.twitter.com/BtHvXDbtIS

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) January 24, 2023

A second person added, "So the @pagerduty CEO might have used ChatGPT for layoff email."

"I've long held @pagerduty in high regard but jesus christ that layoff message had me cringing from beginning to end. I honestly don't think I could've written something worse if I'd tried," added another user.