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CEO slammed for posting crying LinkedIn selfie after laying off staff

By Nagasunder in US business news, posted August 11, 2022

A CEO has come under a barrage of criticism over a LinkedIn post where he posted a picture of himself sobbing after laying off staff.

Braden Wallake is CEO of a company called Hypersocial and decided to upload the picture after revealing the firm had had to lay off a number of members of staff.

Wallake said this was directly due to a decision he made after he decided the company should stop offering its primary services in favor of a more expensive alternative.

Taking responsibility for the choice, he said that it was his mistake and that the people who had been let go may still be employed if better choices had been made.

He added he led the team to make this choice, saying: "So I simply want people to realize that not every CEO is heartless and doesn't care when they have to fire individuals."

Wallake also expressed his desire for his staff to be aware of his love for them, adding: "I am aware that telling my staff that I adore them is unprofessional. But I sincerely hope they are aware of how much I care. Each and every one. Each and every story.

"Every single thing that makes them smile and every single thing that makes them cry. Their families. Their friends. Their hobbies."

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People did not like the message, especially because it was accompanied by a picture of the author sobbing.

An excerpt from his post and comments are provided below.

In response to remarks, Wallake stated in the comments that he had eliminated his personal income and would tag the workers in the article for future chances as soon as he had their consent.

One poster said: "How about using your network to help those employees find new jobs by tagging them and putting them in the spotlight, as opposed to whining about making difficult decisions as a leader and posting a crying selfie? This is one of the most out of touch posts I’ve seen in a long time.

Another added: " Yikes. I was just laid off - along with many others.

"If my CEO sent this I'd probably lose my mind.

"You're crying? I'm crying. We're crying.

"You still have your job."

"Imagine if we all posted pictures of US crying? We'd never get hired because we are forced to be RESILIENT in our industries. "

"Put those tears in a jar and make a potion to help the people's lives you laid off better. Connect them to other agencies/potential opportunities.

"This isn't how you show empathy. DO MORE for your employees that were let go and those still existing.

"THIS ISN'T how. Yikes again."But some supported the CEO, with one saying "When I see this post I see a guy who is literally just trying his best. If you've ever had to lay someone off it really sucks.

"This guy cares about his employees - he decided to process some of this online. Could he have tagged the employees and said how great they were sure, but did he expect this post to blow up like this? Probably not.

"He's cut his salary, he's taken responsibility, and he cares. How on earth did we get to a point where we decided to ridicule people who care?

"Also- check Glassdoor - people have GREAT things to say about him. So everyone- just please, stop it."