Twitter co-founder and Block (formerly Square) CEO Jack Dorsey ain’t your typical corporate suit. For one, he doesn’t always wear them. He brings up “world peace” when endorsing his favorite tech like crypto. Nobody really knows where he lives. He meditates frequently and sports a longish beard. He comes off as more New Age guru than CEO.
So perhaps it was very on brand that, when Dorsey announced he was firing 4,000 employees at Block, he was wearing a hat that said “LOVE” on it in prominent lettering.
Was the “LOVE” hat was tone-deaf? That may seem a silly consideration compared to the broader concern of Dorsey eliminating around 40 percent of his company’s workforce, especially given his explanation that AI motivated the cuts.
But his sartorial choices evidently angered at least one employee at a company meeting after Dorsey announced the layoffs, leading Wired to ask in an interview if a “compassionate layoff” was indeed possible.
Dorsey, ever the romantic, argued that it was. In fact, he seemed to suggest, that’s exactly what he was trying to do.
“I don’t think it’s an impossible task,” he told Wired. “I wanted to approach the whole situation with love.”
“We had an all-hands where they could show me all the emotion and give me the feedback,” he continued. “I believe our settlement to be generous compared with the rest of the market. I wanted to do it from a position of strength, so that we’re not offering a less interesting severance package for people when our backs are against the wall.”
You hear that? “LOVE” is kicking someone, or four thousand someones, to the curb — while making sure they don’t land on the asphalt too hard, somehow.
Asked about the massive layoffs his frenemy Elon Musk carried out after buying Twitter — with more than 6,000 culled, he claims — Dorsey seemed to approve.
“Twitter was a public company becoming a private company, loaded up with a massive amount of debt,” Dorsey told Wired. “Elon could dramatically change the business model, which it needed. I’m grateful for all that. I think Twitter should have been private for quite some time.”
Dorsey’s layoffs stoked fears that AI was beginning to eliminate white collar jobs. In his announcement, Dorsey explained that “intelligence” tools were creating a “new way of working” with smaller teams. Under this new paradigm, he implied, you had to stay competitive by embracing AI and leaner organizations. Experts, and a former employee, however, have argued that AI’s shiny promises are being used as cover for carrying out decisions that are motivated by other financial factors — like over-hiring during COVID.
More on AI: AI Use at Work Is Causing “Brain Fry,” Researchers Find, Especially Among High Performers
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