"Hello, it's me, your kind colleague, with a net worth of $ 2 billion, who would benefit from some changes in the company that could include your resignation."
This may have been the beginning of the internal communication with which daniel ek, Spotify CEO, announced a significant reduction in staff in the company.
In a statement posted on the corporate website of Spotify on Monday, hey described what will happen after the announcement of layoffs around force 6% labor.
A percentage that, according to the technological group in its most recent balance sheet presentation, represents the dismissal of around 588 employees.
The CEO discusses upcoming changes, later saying, “Personally, these changes will help me get back to where I work best, spend more time working on the future of Spotify, and I look forward to sharing more. all over the news
The enthusiasm of hey seemed to collide head-on with the announcement of the Spotify CEO a few paragraphs later: "We have made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our workforce."
Tech giants have suffered massive layoffs in recent weeks. The tone of the statements of the managers of these companies varied from compassion to self-censorship and even commitment.
On the other hand, the statement hey is not exceptional: it speaks of the support that Spotify will give to his former employees and expresses his confidence in the future of the company, but specialists in business management assure that the phrase of the general director referring to the opportunity for the future that the restructuring represents is insufficient in this context.
“People are looking for empathy and sympathy and for you to focus on what happened to them” during layoffs, says Adam Galinsky, professor of leadership and ethics and associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at Columbia Business School.
Regarding the controversial statement of the CEO of Spotify, Galinsky he says he's "completely lost right now."
Ek's comment about his own future prospects might seem insensitive.
without communicating the Spotify CEO highlights that management restructuring will help the company to be more efficient, make better decisions and save money.
Ek confirms the layoffs, confirms confidence in the stability of the company, experts say that these are the two necessary components to reduce size.
"Looking back, I was too ambitious to invest in addition to our revenue growth," admits the CEO of Spotify.
“I take full responsibility for the decisions that will get us to where we are today,” adding: “Thanks to these difficult decisions, we will be better positioned for the future.”
Employees who have just resigned because their personal situation will improve now that they can focus on the future of Spotify, however young, insensitive.
"Talking about you, not me, as if you want to explain 'how this affects me,' is not appropriate in this type of communication," Coco, founder of Athena Alliance, an executive development network for women, told Business Insider. Brunette.
"It's a perfect example of harmful positivity," as executive consultant and CEO of Merging Path Coaching Brooks Scott says, that "focusing on words like 'personally, me, me, or my' or distracts me." Come on ".
“That people seek to recognize the work that they have been doing all this time and that they have empathy for their current situation”, concluded the trainer.
The "subtext" behind Eck's comment is that Galinsky, a professor of leadership at Columbia Business School, says, "I want to get back to being the visionary that I can be."
It is possible that the CEO of Spotify has taken the opportunity to defend how the restructuring serves to provide the company "with the resources it needs to be able to help those who will remain in Spotify, to cement an organization that will continue to grow and, who knows, hire ». more people in the future.
According to Galinsky, the typical statement a CEO makes when announcing cuts should follow a formula: make the announcement express regret and let other consumers, investors and wage earners know that the big picture is good.
Maybe even the teachers at the Columbia Business School they refuse to say that hey he wants to deviate a bit from those stereotypes. "There is a formula for a reason."
“The recipe for success is to regret having made that decision. But registering it will help build a better future for the company”, explains Galinsky.