A Seattle-based data scientist has left netizens impressed for quitting her job after a mass layoff at her company. She said she stepped down willingly, rejecting a 75% raise as she suffered from survivor’s guilt. About 40% of the workforce was laid off due to Artificial Intelligence integration.
Woman rejects 75% raise post mass layoff
Naoko Takeda took to LinkedIn and shared her thoughts after finding out she wasn’t among the affected ones, yet was ‘affected.’ She said that the layoff happened suddenly when her immediate and related team was dissolved. However, it was only she and a new hire who were retained in her team.
“My employer Block laid off 40% of its workforce last Thursday (2/26). I wasn’t affected… but I was *affected*. I decided to quit immediately and left the company the following day on 2/27. I figured that a company able to Thanos-snap away half of their employees doesn’t need two-week’s notice from me, just another IC that could easily have been in that 40%,” she wrote.
Talking about finding out about the layoff in 10 minutes, she shared that the company offered her about 75% raise in salary. However, she refused to stay back.
Takeda said, “I felt immense dread and survivor’s guilt. So Block laid off 40% of its employees and offered the rest of us Retention Packages. I’m not sure how the Retention Package looked for others, but I was personally offered a pay increase of ~75% (90% if you include the one-time bonus!). So basically, I saw my company discard half of my peers and double my pay. That’s not an honor. It feels shameful and dehumanizing. I’d rather see my peers keep their jobs than personally profit from their trauma. I have the immense financial privilege of being a steadily-employed, healthy person with no dependents, but many of my peers have families to care for, medical bills to pay, or visa issues putting them at risk of deportation.”
Layoff due to AI
The woman added that she asked people if she could be included in the layoff list, but she was denied.
“So why did this happen? Block claims it’s because AI is making the company so productive. In the last year, AI was shoved down everyone’s throats. Everything was about AI. We were told to use AI as much as possible. It’s nothing short of dystopian to be forced to employ the very tools that accelerate the disappearance of the jobs on which our livelihoods depend,” she revealed the reason behind the sudden firing.
What netizens think
Reacting to the post, many praised the data scientist for her courage.
Among them, one wrote in the comments, “I’m so impressed by this.” Someone said, “You are the future. My heart is warmed and hopeful that my children someday will work for a leader like you.”
One more added, “What if the 40 percent who were laid off met up the following week to start a new company that puts Block out of business?”