A photo of a duck was mistakenly sent to workers being laid off

Stripe is laying off nearly 300 people this week, and it appears the digital payment processing provider made a huge mistake in implementing the layoffs. Business insider Reports That employees affected by the layoffs received a PDF image of a duck in their emails, along with an incorrect termination date.

A Stripe spokesperson confirmed the flaw to Business insider A follow-up email corrected the error, he said. Stripe says it still plans to grow its headcount this year to 10,000.

On Blind, a discussion board where tech industry employees can speak anonymously, Stripe employees joked that someone should quickly create a custom duck emoji in the company’s Slack app.

The tech industry has seen unprecedented layoffs in recent years after nearly two decades of growth, and the mass layoffs — necessitated by overhiring during the pandemic — haven’t always gone smoothly. One common occurrence is that employees wake up to find that their work devices simply won’t turn on, or they arrive at the office and try to get their access badge, only to find Access key not working. Sometimes incorrect information Delivered to affected employeesor layoff emails are sent to work accounts just as employees are blocked from accessing them.

The Better.com CEO took a lot of heat and subsequently took a leave of absence 900 people laid off via ZoomIt is a call during which he accused the affected employees of “theft” by not working hard enough. The PagerDuty CEO quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in her email Laying off employees.

Overall, power has returned from tech workers to employers since a series of mass layoffs began in late 2022. Employees can no longer protest their companies signing contracts with the Pentagon, or fight for DEI and other initiatives. For all but the best, the tech job market is no longer great, and leadership’s disregard for employee concerns is evident.

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison It took tremendous heat In late 2024 due to a post he shared on X of him running in Tel Aviv, he wrote that it was “great to be back.” Ireland, where Collison is from and Stripe maintains its offices, served as Voice critic Israel throughout its war on Gaza.

As one of the leading online payment facilitators, his company remains strong. The tape reportedly recently received a rating More than $70 billion.