Patagonia is laying off 41 employees, or 1 % of its total workforce. For a brand that prides itself on its ethical principles, delivering such a message is all the more challenging. How did they handle it?
Evaluating “roles, not people”
“Today, we are getting more right than wrong, but we aren’t meeting the high standards we set for ourselves. And while we remain profitable, we are vulnerable to the same economic headwinds many companies in our industry are facing”, CEO Ryan Gellert announced the restructuring on LinkedIn.
The US headquarters in Ventura is undergoing a reorganisation: new positions have been created, some positions have been eliminated and most roles are evolving. Patagonia also has a European headquarters in Amsterdam, but the announcement only mentions the Ventura office.
However, it would not be Patagonia, the textbook example of an ethical and values-driven organisation, if the bad news was not delivered with particular caution and humanity…
