Stripe is laying off around 300 people this week, and the company that provides digital payment processing appears to have made a royal blunder in making these layoffs. Business Insider reports that employees affected by the layoffs received a PDF image of a duck in their emails, along with a layoff date that was not correct.
A Stripe spokesperson confirmed the error to Business Insider and said a follow-up email corrected the error. Stripe says it still plans to increase its headcount this year to 10,000 people.
On Blind, a discussion forum where tech industry employees can speak anonymously, Stripe employees joked that someone should quickly create a custom duck emoji in the company’s Slack.
The tech industry has seen unprecedented layoffs in recent years, after nearly two decades of growth, and the mass layoffs — necessitated by excessive hiring during the pandemic — have not always been implemented smoothly. It’s often the case that employees wake up to find that their work devices just won’t turn on, or they arrive at the office and try to log in, only to find that their passkey doesn’t work. Sometimes incorrect information is sent to affected employees, or termination emails are sent to work accounts just when employees can no longer access them.
Better.com’s CEO received intense heat and took a leave of absence after laying off 900 people over Zoom, a call in which he accused affected employees of “stealing” by not working hard enough. PagerDuty CEO cited Martin Luther King Jr. in her email laying off staff.
Overall, power has shifted from tech workers to employers since a round of mass layoffs began in late 2022. Employees can no longer protest their companies’ signing of Pentagon contracts, nor can they fight back for DEI and other initiatives. For all but the best, the tech job market no longer holds much promise, and management’s disregard for employee concerns is evident.
Stripe CEO Patrick Collison took huge heat in late 2024 over a post he shared on X showing him running in Tel Aviv, writing that it was “great to be back “. Ireland, where Collison is from and where Stripe has offices, has been a vocal critic of Israel throughout its war on Gaza.
As one of the leaders in facilitating online payments, his business remains strong. Stripe recently achieved an estimated valuation of over $70 billion.
Great to be back in Tel Aviv. I missed this race. pic.twitter.com/xc4LP1MkQm
-Patrick Collison (@patrickc) November 27, 2024
