Jack Dorsey’s fintech firm, Block, made headlines by announcing one of the most drastic workforce reductions in the tech sector, laying off approximately 4,000 employees. Dorsey attributed the massive cut to an AI-driven structural shift. The sudden nature of the move was highlighted by one particularly striking account from an impacted employee, who shared that he was actually in the middle of interviewing a candidate for a role at the company when he received the layoff email from the CEO.
Ivan Ureña-Valdes, a former data analyst at Block, told Business Insider that after surviving three previous layoffs at the company, he suspected AI cuts were coming, but it was strange to be the one impacted.
Also Read: Jack Dorsey lays off 4,000 employees, offers 20 weeks of salary as severance
Laid of in the middle of an interview
“When I got an email from Jack Dorsey, I was in the middle of interviewing someone for a role at Block,” he told the outlet, adding, “It was pretty strange because, in the past, with layoffs, I knew people had their access cut almost immediately.” In his note to the employee, Dorsey said those affected won’t be immediately removed from official communication channels. They would have time to say goodbye or “share whatever you wish”.
Ureña-Valdes, who was busy with an interview, said he was unaware the job cuts were in progress until he received a message from his co-worker asking, “Hey, are you okay?”
“I felt really bad because I was in the middle of interviewing someone. I had to tell them, ‘I was actually just let go from the company. I probably won’t be able to submit your feedback in time. Please reach out to your recruiter’,” the former Block employee recalled.
He added, “I’m the sole provider for my family. It was tough.”
The techie recalled surviving previous layoffs at the company. He told the outlet, “I’ve survived three rounds of layoffs, some companywide, some engineering organization-wide. I knew I wasn’t being let go for performance-related reasons. I was in the middle of working on two large projects, probably the largest projects I’d worked on since joining the company.”
“Appreciate Jack’s honesty”
The techie said that though it is tough being laid off, he appreciates the transparency shown by CEO Jack Dorsey. “It’s much fairer of him to come straight out and say why it happened — that it’s because of AI and the vision he sees.”
He then added, “I’m honestly grateful for the generous severance and benefits. It definitely helps make the rough situation a bit easier.”
Those affected are receiving 20 weeks of base pay, plus an additional week of salary for every year of tenure at the company. Furthermore, the package includes equity vesting through the end of May, six months of continued healthcare coverage, and a $5,000 transition payment to assist with immediate needs. Departing employees are also being permitted to keep their corporate devices.
Will AI cause more job cuts in the industry?
“I could see in my own work very quickly how much of it was already being automated. So much of the data analyst world is finding the right dataset, writing something that will allow you to pull the data set that you want, and then generating output. Every single one of those steps is significantly faster and easier because of AI,” said Ureña-Valdes.
He continued, “I 100% think that more disruption and more of these types of cuts will probably come at other companies, which is unfortunate.”
What did Jack Dorsey say in the layoff email?
“Today we’re making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we’re reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. That means over 4,000 of you are being asked to leave or entering into consultation. I’ll be straight about what’s happening, why, and what it means for everyone,” the Twitter (now X) co-founder who later co-founded Block wrote in a note.
Also Read: Jack Dorsey’s Block employee says ‘stellar review in morning, laid off by evening’ after 4,000 job cuts
Explaining the reason behind the decision, he shared, “We’re not making this decision because we’re in trouble. Our business is strong. Gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. But something has changed. We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. And that’s accelerating rapidly.”