Striking the suitable company tone for a significant layoff cannot be simple.
But Microsoft might need strayed off key this week. On the eve of Wednesday’s announcement of 10,000 layoffs, the Redmond-based tech big hosted rock star Sting at an “intimate” occasion with high Microsoft execs at Davos, the swanky yearly shindig for world bigwigs in Switzerland, in accordance with The Wall Street Journal.
“It was an intimate gathering of 50 or so people, including the company’s top executives, who got to while away the evening listening” to Sting, a 71-year-old bleach-blond rocker and movie star, the Journal reported, citing “people familiar with the event.”
The timing, in accordance with the Journal, was “a sour note to some (Microsoft) employees,” who would be taught simply hours later that the corporate was reducing 5% of its employees, together with 878 staff within the Seattle space, as a part of a set of post-pandemic cost-cutting measures.
The cuts, CEO Satya Nadella would clarify in a weblog, have been wanted at a second the place “some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one.”
The awkwardness of the Sting-then-cut timing rapidly went viral, with many riffing on songs by Sting and his former band, the Police.
“The message in a bottle was you’re fired,” learn one tweet, referring to the 1979 Police hit “Message in a Bottle.”
Other reactions have been extra critical. “The optics here aren’t good,” tweeted Angus Norton, self-described as a former Microsoft VP. “I’m a big fan of Satya Nadella, but this is seriously bad executive symbolism,” added Columbia University business skilled Rita Gunther McGrath.
“Doesn’t get much more Marie Antoinette than that,” concluded Steve Malloy, an lawyer and Fox News contributor. “Stung.”
To ensure, Davos occasions “are planned far in advance making it difficult to change them,” the Journal famous. But at the least one PR skilled stated an organization with as a few years within the limelight as Microsoft might need higher anticipated the backlash.
Although “the booking of Sting to perform at Davos was probably made months ago, the decisions and discussions about cutting staff weren’t made just yesterday, either,” stated Lawrence Parnell, director of the Strategic Public Relations graduate program at George Washington University.
Microsoft didn’t reply to questions in regards to the occasion.
Others have been joyful to fill in, nonetheless.
“When the world is running down, you make the best of what’s still around,” famous one on-line commenter, referring to the 1980 Police hit of the identical title.
But the aptest remark might need come from a German attendee at Davos: “Even in times of crisis, Davos Man doesn’t stop partying.”
