CEO Apologizes for Quoting MLK Jr in Layoff Email to Staff

PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada After being called a liar by critics, she has since apologized to her employees “tone-deaf” In her layoff memo, she quoted Martin Luther King Jr.

Tejada who is the chief of cloud computing company admitted on Friday that using a quote of the civil rights leader while announcing that the company was going to let go of 7% of its global workforce was inexcusable. “a number of things” She would have done it differently. 

“The quote I included from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was inappropriate and insensitive. I should have been more upfront about the layoffs in the email, more thoughtful about my tone, and more concise,” Tejada said. “I am sorry.” 

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Tejada stated that the reductions were necessary in the letter he sent to employees on Tuesday. “to set PagerDuty up for long term success.” 

PagerDuty can be found in a variety of ways. A large number of tech firms As they cope with the uncertain economy, these companies have had to reduce their workforce. 

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Jennifer Tejada at the SAAS Monster Stage on Day 2 of Web Summit 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal.  (Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Tejada Notice the layoffs “will be painful for those Dutonians impacted, their loved ones and their teammates, because every PagerDuty employee is an important, valuable part of our community.”

But she concluded the letter with the words, “Partially.” “I am reminded in moments like this, of something Martin Luther King said, 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.'” 

Chief executive said that she had communicated the layoffs in a clear and concise manner “distracted from our number one priority: showing care for the employees we laid off, and demonstrating the grace, respect, and appreciation they and all of you deserve.”

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Tejada made her apologies after she said that “many” Employees provided feedback throughout the week. Although, Users of social media She also attacked her for her move. 

“The most tone-deaf layoff email I read so far was written yesterday, and it comes from PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada,” One user tweeted. “The email is vey [sic] long, and feels like it was written by an AI that took all the phrases that people usually say, and put it one long email.” 

Another user tweeted, “Another user tag the company in tweet saying: “Maybe don’t quote MLK when firing 7% of your workforce?” 

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PagerDuty announced December revenue growth of 31.1% to $94.2million for the third quarter. From $26.3 million, the operating loss increased to $32.5million.

PagerDuty expects to generate total revenue between $368 and $370.0 million for the full fiscal year 2023. This represents a growth rate 31% year-over-year and a net loss of $0.01 to $0.00 per share, assuming approximately 90,000,000 basic shares and 101,000,000 diluted shares.

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