An employee of San Francisco startup Webflow has called out her CEO Linda Tong in how she handled layoffs, claiming neither did he receive an email nor a message about her termination but was simply locked out of his laptop. The Canada-based employee took to her LinkedIn account after finding himself unable to access his work device early in the morning. This came as a shock to him as he was locked out of company’s accounts without any warning or prior notice.
According to the employee’s LinkedIn post, he sensed that something was wrong after suddenly losing access to his Webflow laptop early in the morning. He said there had already been internal rumours about possible layoffs, but the company had not officially informed him whether his position had been affected.
“Hey Linda Tong I’m locked out of my Webflow laptop since 7am this morning,” the software developer wrote in a detailed post. “Rumor has it we’ve been laid off, but I don’t have an email or any message to confirm anything.”
The employee said he was shocked by the way the layoffs were carried out without notifying the affected employees personally. He said he never expected the company to repeat the mistakes seen during earlier layoffs, particularly when many international employees rely on their jobs to maintain their immigration status.
“I actually said: ‘I don’t think Linda would lay people off again without letting them know first, especially if they’re on a closed work permit in a foreign country and it would mean relocating their whole family, I’m certain she would have the dignity to let folks know in a better way, given the debacle last time,’” the employee said in his LinkedIn post.
He then tagged his manager and asked, “Do I have a job?” The employee confirmed that he had been laid off in the comment section.
Webflow employees say layoffs came without warning
Webflow on Wednesday became the latest tech company to announce layoffs, abruptly notifying workers that they have lost their jobs as the company is restructuring around artificial intelligence.
The layoffs came as a surprise for many employees as many of them said they suddenly lost access to company accounts without any prior notice. As of Wednesday evening, it was still unclear how many workers were affected at Webflow, the remote software company that was valued at nearly $4 billion in 2022.
Webflow says AI is changing the business
Webflow was launched in 2012 as a website-building and hosting platform. But in recent years, CEO Linda Tong said AI tools have rapidly changed the way websites are created, leading the company to make what she called the “difficult decision to restructure Webflow’s team and operating model.”
“We’re at an inflection point, both as a company and as an industry,” Tong wrote. “AI is rewriting the rules for how marketing teams create, test and optimize digital experiences. And the companies that move decisively through moments like this are the ones that come out ahead.”
Tong also confirmed that “many of our Webflow teammates” would be laid off. However, company spokesperson Paul Chalker declined to reveal the exact number of affected employees. According to LinkedIn, Webflow has between 500 and 1,000 workers.
Workers discovered layoffs after losing account access
One former developer said he woke up around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday to several messages from colleagues asking if he knew “what was going on.” When he tried logging into Slack, he realised he had been locked out. Around 30 minutes later, he received an email informing him that his employment had been terminated.
Another former software engineer said she discovered she had been laid off while at the gym after noticing she had been logged out of her work email account.
“I tried to sign back in and my password didn’t work,” she said. “One of my coworkers sent a screenshot of a message our CEO had sent to Slack notifying the team of layoffs and saying that by now everyone should have received an email notifying them of their status. I checked my email and I didn’t have anything.” She said the official email reached her personal inbox about 15 minutes later.
Company defends security process
Spokesperson Paul Chalker later said affected employees were sent severance details and support information through their personal email accounts. He admitted that some workers first learned about the layoffs after losing access to company systems and devices.
“As part of our standard security process, access to company devices and systems was restricted a few minutes before notifications were sent to personal email addresses,” Chalker said. “That step was taken to protect customer data and company information, not to leave employees without information or support.”
Tech layoffs continue as AI reshapes industry
According to recent data, San Francisco and San Mateo counties lost around 1,900 information-sector jobs between March and April. Companies including Google, Pinterest, Autodesk and Meta have also announced layoffs this year, with many citing AI-related restructuring.
“C-suite thinks that I’m being replaced by AI, but they don’t actually understand what AI is doing,” said the former Webflow developer. “They’re going to find out at some point that they haven’t actually replaced anything, all they’ve done is make a mess. You can’t replace people with AI because AI does not work that way.”