The CEO of a tech company has spoken out on an 'emotional rollercoaster of a week' after offering workers '$30,000 or six months of salary' to leave.
San Francisco tech company Automattic and another company got into a bit of a spat which led to 'parallel debate' between colleagues.
And after it 'became clear a good chunk' of people 'disagreed' with CEO Matt Mullenweg's actions, he decided to offer them a way out - which an unexpectedly large number of employees took him up on.
In a post on his blog on October 3, Mullenweg quoted none other than Winston Churchill by writing: "Never let a good crisis go to waste."
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The CEO then explained after it became clear colleagues didn't all agree with Automattic's actions when it came to dealing with a lawsuit filed by fellow tech WP Engine, they 'decided to design the most generous buy-out package possible'.
Titled the 'Alignment Offer', the package detailed if employees 'resigned before 20:00 UTC on Thursday, October 3, 2024, [they] would receive $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever is higher'.
"But [they'd] lose access to Automattic that evening, and [they] wouldn’t be eligible to boomerang (what we call re-hires)."
What's more, 'HR added some extra details to sweeten the deal,' Mullenweg noting: "We wanted to make it as enticing as possible."
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Alas, the deal clearly ended up all too too 'enticing' for some leading to some fairly shocking results and an 'emotional rollercoaster of a week' for the CEO.
Mullenweg reveals a whopping total of 159 people took the offer - of who '63.5 percent were male' and '53 percent were in the US' - which is nearly 10 percent of the entire company (8.4 percent to be exact).
Breaking it down even further, the CEO continued: "By division it impacted our Ecosystem / WordPress areas the most: 79.2 percent of the people who took it were in our Ecosystem businesses, compared to 18.2 percent from Cosmos (our apps like Pocket Casts, Day One, Tumblr, Cloudup).
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"18 people made over 200k/yr! One person started two days before the deadline. Four people took it then changed their minds."
Mullenweg noted 'every resignation stings a bit' given 'the day you hire someone you aren’t expecting them to resign or be fired, you’re hoping for a long and mutually beneficial relationship'.
However, he resolved he feels 'much lighter' without now the 8.4 percent have left, adding: "I’m grateful and thankful for all the people who took the offer, and even more excited to work with those who turned down $126M to stay.
"As the kids say, LFG!"
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Well, that's one way to look at it.
UNILAD has contacted Mullenweg for comment.
Topics: Money, Social Media, Technology, US News, Viral, Business, Psychology
Poppy Bilderbeck