The Loch Ness monster. Bigfoot. Employee happiness.
If you’re placing bets on which of these three fabled things is going to show itself first, definitely don’t bet on the last one — job satisfaction is at a three-year low and still sliding.
But why, executives may wonder? What can be done to get that ever-elusive employee buy-in?
The audio giant stumbled earlier this year, with two different rounds of layoffs, eliminating a combined ~800 jobs (or ~8% of its workforce).
But it seemed like the company was bouncing back nicely:
The reward for the hard-working employees who made it all happen? A third round of layoffs for the year, with ~1.5k people getting the boot right before the holidays.
There is, of course, a strong financial imperative here — Spotify, which bloated itself by nearly doubling its head count between 2019 and 2022, is pushing hard for consistent profitability.
But sound cost-cutting business logic doesn’t do much to alleviate tanking employee morale.
Most professionals have, at some point, been on the receiving end of the executive Mad Libs layoff letter; “We have to become relentlessly resourceful,” marked Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s version.
And every time another one goes out, it raises one essential question for each worker awaiting their turn: Why try?
If the company fails, you’re on the chopping block; if the company succeeds, sorry — you’re still on the chopping block.