Jack Dorsey struck an 'empathetic' tone as he laid off nearly half of Block

• Jack Dorsey's approach to layoffs at Block struck a different tone than other tech sector cuts.
• Block announced it will lay off roughly 40% of its employees, citing "intelligent tools."
• Dorsey offered a base of 20 weeks of severance pay and struck a sympathetic tone.

The CEO of Block is striking a different tone as the company executes massive layoffs.

Jack Dorsey, who cofounded the company behind Square, Cash App, and Afterpay, announced on Thursday that the company will lay off more than 40% of its workforce. Dorsey said in his memo that "intelligence tools" have enabled "a new way of working."

Block shares surged in after-hours trading, and so are fears that AI might quickly displace jobs, but the tone of Dorsey's layoff memo is also becoming a focal point on X, with some users praising his leadership.

Dorsey said that anyone laid off will receive 20 weeks of salary plus one week for every year of tenure, have equity vested through the end of May, six months of healthcare, be given their corporate devices, and an additional $5,000.

This offering differs from others in the tech space. For example, Amazon's severance package tied to layoffs in January included pay for 90 days and healthcare benefits that continue through the last day of the month when employment ends.

On top of that, Dorsey said that departing employees wouldn't "just disappear" from Slack and email, and would be given several hours to say goodbye.

"I had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. I chose the latter," wrote Dorsey. "Repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead."

"To those of you leaving…I'm grateful for you, and I'm sorry to put you through this. You built what this company is today," Dorsey added. "That's a fact that I'll honor forever. This decision is not a reflection of what you contributed."

Many large companies have made repeated layoffs over the years. Amazon, for example, has had consecutive years of layoffs since 2022, cutting around 27,000 corporate positions in 2023, a few smaller trims in the hundreds in 2024, limited to specific teams, and a reduction of about 14,000 corporate workers in October 2025. Block itself has had several rounds of smaller staff cuts over the last several years.

The apologetic tone of Dorsey's statement also stands in contrast to other memos that made recent headlines. That includes one from AT&T CEO John Stankey in August, which boiled down to get on board with his plan or leave. Alexandr Wang sent out a memo with a more forward-looking tone, which said that the company is still hiring and investing, while Meta's Superintelligence Labs division laid off 600 workers.

Brooks Holtom, a professor of management at Georgetown University, told Business Insider that the tone of Dorsey's layoff memo was aligned with recommendations from good management research.

Holtom pointed to the opening line — "Today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company" — as "a good way to start," because it signals that "this isn't easy." Holtom also said that the company "cut right to the chase, which is best practice with bad news," before shifting to an explanation of what the cuts are meant to accomplish.

Holtom said that Dorsey's message included "sympathetic sentences or even paragraphs" directed at departing employees.

In Holtom's opinion, the package for those leaving is also "relatively generous, and the message is, 'We take responsibility. What we're doing is trying to position us for the future.'"

"The tone of the message," said Holtom, "Is empathetic."

Even as Dorsey expressed regret for the laid-off workers, he underscored that the decision was not a response to deteriorating business conditions, writing, "We're not making this decision because we're in trouble. Our business is strong. Gross profit continues to grow."

For some who are now out of a job, the message that the company is financially healthy might only sharpen questions about why the cuts were necessary.

Following the announcement, Dorsey held a tense all-hands video call during which staffers added dozens of "thumbs down" emojis to the screen, The New York Times reported. He wore a black hat emblazoned with the word "LOVE," the newspaper said, citing two employees who participated in the meeting.

During the call, an employee questioned whether Dorsey's choice of headwear was appropriate as he moved to cut nearly half the company's workforce, the Times said.

Block's layoff comes at a time when white collar workers face a tough job market and the threat of AI. A recently viral report by Citrini Research projected a 2028 scenario in which AI replaced too many white-collar workers too quickly, triggering a widespread recession that ultimately led to the stagnation of AI due to a lack of financial resources.