Before I dive into Jack Dorsey’s memo to all the employees, I truly believe this was a tough decision to make, considering the circumstances. How would you have handled this decision if you were Jack? I would definitely highlight ideas that Jack used, such as expressing gratitude to the employees who were laid off and helping them find new jobs. I think it is important to be respectful to the workers that are being fired because we don’t want them to go down in flames. They deserve nothing but the best; this was truly an unfair situation. Overall, I liked how Jack showed respect to the workers in his memo, but I don’t believe he did the best job in his introduction. https://getjobber.com/academy/how-to-fire-someone-nicely/#:~:text=You%20can%20fire%20someone%20nicely%20using%20these%20best,…%208%20Give%20them%20time.%20…%20More%20items
Jack explains that he is going to give it to the audience “straight”. However, he doesn’t deliver that message right away, resulting in a much more indirect approach out the gate. He then rambles on about what the company is trying to accomplish and what they recently launched. He forgot to go straight to the point: that fact that he is firing 336 employees. Workers reading this probably don’t realize what is happening from the beginning. They might become disinterested from the jump and skip the rest of the email. In doing so, they would end up having no idea they just got laid off. https://www.bing.com/search?q=how+to+write+straight+to+the+point&cvid=5d678715c1374655b9796c6b75f38bdd&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIECAEQADIECAIQADIECAMQADIECAQQADIECAUQADIECAYQADIECAcQADIECAgQANIBCTEzMTkzajBqNKgCALACAA&FORM=ANAB01&PC=DCTS
I didn’t necessary understand why Jack named the subject of the memo “A more focused twitter”. I would recommend switching the subject to something along the lines of “employee layoffs”. It seems a little harsh, but it gets to the point of the email. Employers can then open the email and immediately get the idea Jack is trying to convey. Jack’s memo has many pros and cons: he shows respect for all the workers being laid off but also doesn’t get straight to the point from the start. https://writingcommons.org/article/memos/#:~:text=Memos%20are%20used%20in%20a%20variety%20of%20workplace,new%29%20Instructions%20Procedures%20Announcements%20Trip%20reports%20Distribution%20Medium
Throughout your blog post you talk about how Dorsey was respectful through this. While i did not find his memo directly disrespectful, i think by going back on “giving it straight forward” really removes any respect in the message. As if he cannot commit to the promise he made in the layoff memo then how can they believe he truly has their back. If you were an employee would you be fine with Dorsey’s messaging in the memo if he didn’t make that promise in the beginning?
I also thought it was funny that Dorsey was going to “give it to them straight” and would avoid corporate talk, but went into corporate talk for the next 2 paragraphs. That is just very disrespectful in my opinion. My expectation is if you say you’re going to give it to me straight, you give it to me straight. Instead, he just jumps around it, which is annoying. How would you feel?
I also saw the hypocrisy of Jack Dorsey, especially when stating he would “give it to them straight.” With all the unnecessary language, corporate jargon, and backhanded compliments, I would have been enraged if I was an employee at Twitter receiving this letter. I agree that Dorsey seems somewhat respectful to his employees, but his introduction and other sections of the layoff letter should have been reworked. How would you have responded if you were a Twitter employee who received this letter?
I also find Jack is not really empathizing with the employees and he is trying to be cool about the layoffs (“give it o them straight”) but he didn’t really mentioned the reason why. It is kind of annoying to me if I’m one of his employees. In addition to his subject, which I also agree with you that he need to have a better one, it is just dehumanizing the employees’ hard work and the difficulty they are facing currently. How do you think he can better write this memo?