Jack Dorsey’s Block brings back a few workers after mass layoffs

At least four Block employees have rejoined the company after being cut during the firm’s sweeping workforce reduction in February.

Chane Rennie, who leads creative strategy at Block, is among them. He has returned to the role just a week after announcing he had been laid off, according to a LinkedIn post.

Another case is Andrew Harvard, a design engineer, who was quickly invited back after being temporarily dropped from the company by accident. He confirmed the return in a statement

Some team members were rehired after their manager and colleague strongly pushed leadership to bring them back.

Richard Hesse, technical lead for Square Online and Site Operations at Block, said he was the only team member left after the company’s 40% layoff. Hesse worked tirelessly to convince leadership that his coworkers were essential and that he couldn’t manage alone.

His efforts paid off, and Block rehired some of those who had been let go.

These rehires do little to offset the fact that Block reduced its workforce by nearly half, from over 10,000 to just under 6,000.

Jack Dorsey, the company’s co-founder, said the decision was driven by structural and strategic changes to how the company works.

Coinbase’s former chief technology officer, Balaji Srinivasan, called this the first “AI cut” and predicted it would send shockwaves through the tech industry.

“Learn the AI tools and raise your game. Or you might not make the cut, as an employee or as a company,” Srinivasan warned.

Automation and AI are changing workflows. Smaller teams are expected to accomplish more, and that has sparked concerns about the AI productivity paradox.

Not just big firms like Amazon and Block are affected. Disruptions in the labor market are also affecting the crypto industry, which has been gaining mainstream adoption.

The sector has faced a tough downturn, and several teams have recently restructured as a result.

Earlier today, Algorand said it had cut its workforce by 25% in response to market conditions and macro uncertainty.

The company joins a growing list of crypto firms, including OP Labs, Gemini, and OKX, which have made similar moves.