A Seattle-based data scientist impressed netizens by quitting her job after mass layoffs at her company. She said she resigned voluntarily, turning down a 75% raise because she suffered from survivor’s guilt. About 40% of the workforce has been laid off due to the integration of artificial intelligence.
Woman rejects 75% raise after mass layoffs
Naoko Takeda took to LinkedIn to share her thoughts after finding out that she was not disabled but was “disabled”. She said the layoffs came suddenly as her immediate and related team was disbanded. However, only she and a new employee remained on her team.
“My employer Block laid off 40% of their workforce last Thursday (2/26). Not affected… but *affected*. I decided to quit immediately and left the company the following day on February 27th. I figured a company that could Thanos take away half of their staff didn’t need two weeks notice from me,” she wrote, just the other 40% that could have easily been in IC.
Speaking about learning about the layoffs within 10 minutes, she said the company offered her about a 75% pay rise. However, she refused to stay back.
Takeda said, “I felt immense horror and survivor’s guilt. So Block laid off 40% of their employees and offered Retention Packages to the rest of us. I’m not sure what the Retention Package looked like to others, but I personally was offered a ~75% pay raise (90% if you include the one-time bonus!). So basically, I saw my company getting rid of double my salary and my honor getting rid of half of my honor. and dehumanizing I’d rather see my peers keep their jobs than profit personally from their trauma.I have the tremendous financial privilege of being a permanently employed, healthy person with no dependents, but many of my peers have families to care for, health care bills, or visa issues that put them at risk of deportation.
Layoffs due to AI
The woman added that she asked people if she could be put on the layoff list, but was denied.
“So why did this happen? Block claims it’s because AI makes society so productive. Last year, AI was shoved down everyone’s throats. It was all about AI. We were told to use AI as much as possible. It’s nothing short of dystopian to be forced to use the very tools that accelerate the disappearance of jobs that our livelihoods depend on,” she revealed the first reason.
What netizens think
In response to the post, many praised the data scientist for her courage.
Among them, one wrote in the comments: “I am so amazed by this.” Someone said, “You are the future. My heart is warmed and I hope my children will one day work for a leader like you.”
Another added: “What if the 40 percent who were fired got together next week to start a new company to put Block out of business?”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Live Mint could not independently verify the claims and does not endorse them.)
