'Inappropriate and insensitive': Tech CEO apologizes after being slammed for 'tone-deaf' layoff email quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Notifying employees of mass layoffs is probably not an easy task for CEOs and business leaders, but doing it in a tone-deaf way (and then getting criticized on the internet for it) is probably the way least ideal to do so. this.

Getty Pictures Jennifer Tejada, CEO of PagerDuty

Cloud computing company PagerDuty is making headlines after CEO Jennifer Tejada sent an internal memo to employees announcing that the company would be laying off 7% of its total global workforce (approximately 66 employees) while quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and announcing promotions to higher management positions.

"Having considered a series of approaches to strengthen the business as we move forward, we are further refining our operating model while working to increase our capacity while improving our cost structure, focusing our efforts and improving our return on investment,” Tejada wrote to employees. “I expect us to show all of our colleagues the grace, respect and dignity they have earned. As someone who has worked in this industry for decades, I have been through this before and this is never easy, and I also know from the experience that even if we don't work together in the short term, our relationships and that community lives beyond our tenure at PagerDuty."

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Then, a few sentences later, the CEO announced that Jeremy Kmet, the company's senior vice president of sales for North America, would be promoted to senior vice president of field operations starting 1st. February.

And then came the kick:

"It reminds me at times like this, of something Martin Luther King said, that 'the ultimate measure of a [leader] is not where [they] stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where [they] stand in times of challenge and controversy," Tejada wrote. "PagerDuty is a leader who stands behind its customers, its values, and our vision - for a fair world where we transform critical work so that all teams can delight their customers and build trust."

The quote is taken from a sermon the activist gave in the 1950s before immortalizing it in "The Measure of a Man" in 1959.

Understandably, once the email started making its rounds on the internet, people weren't happy with its choice of words.

Tejada's email stated that those terminated would receive 11 weeks of severance pay with the possibility of additional compensation based on the employee's length of service with the company. Axed employees will also receive "a minimum" of three to four months of extended medical coverage for themselves and any claimed dependents.

The advisory cited the changing "macro environment", inflation and the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike as the reason for uncertainty in the market, and among (corporate) customers from PagerDuty, the reluctance to use the service, thus hindering growth for the company.

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Three days after his first email, Tejada apologized to employees in an email that PagerDuty made public on its website. The rating came after a company-wide town hall.

"This has been a tough week for our business," she said. “There are a number of things I would do differently if I could. The quote I included from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was inappropriate and insensitive. e-mail, more thoughtful in my tone, and more concise. I'm sorry."

PagerDuty did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur's request for comment.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, PagerDuty reported revenue of $78.5 million (up 34% year-over-year), driving overall revenue for the fiscal year 2022 at $281.4 million, a 31.8% year-over-year increase from 2021.