Techie survives Jack Dorsey’s Block's 4,000 job cuts, gets 75% pay hike, then quits: 'No thanks, I’m out!'

A tech professional who survived a large-scale layoff at Jack Dorsey’s fintech company Block says she chose to resign immediately, despite being offered a major salary hike to stay.

The employee shared her experience in a detailed LinkedIn post that has since drawn attention online. According to her, Block recently laid off about 40% of its workforce, and although she was not among those affected, the events left her feeling deeply unsettled.

“My employer Block laid off 40% of its workforce last Thursday (2/26). I wasn’t affected… but I was affected. I decided to quit immediately and left the company the following day on 2/27. I figured that a company able to Thanos-snap away half of their employees doesn’t need two-week's notice from me, just another IC that could easily have been in that 40%,” the laid-off techie wrote on LinkedIn.

She described the experience as emotionally difficult, saying the sudden layoffs wiped out most of her team within minutes.

‘Immense dread’ after layoffs

In her post, the tech professional explained that within roughly 10 minutes, nearly 70% of her immediate and related teams disappeared due to the layoffs. Only she and a newly hired employee — who had joined just three days earlier — remained.

The situation left her dealing with what she described as overwhelming stress and survivor’s guilt.

She also criticised some of the company’s decisions, calling them troubling and unfair to employees.

“I’m willing to bet that many of those who were laid off or are still working at Block are mad too. Anger is a feeling of perceived injustice, a valid reaction to these events.”

75% salary hike offered to stay

According to the employee, Block attempted to retain some of the remaining staff by offering major financial incentives.

“I’’m not sure how the Retention Package looked for others, but I was personally offered a pay increase of ~75% (90% if you include the one-time bonus!). So basically, I saw my company discard half of my peers and double my pay.”

However, she said the offer did not feel like a reward.

“I’d rather see my peers keep their jobs than personally profit from their trauma. I have the immense financial privilege of being a steadily-employed, healthy person with no dependents, but many of my peers have families to care for, medical bills to pay, or visa issues putting them at risk of deportation.”

“I asked to get laid off”

The employee revealed that she even requested to be included in the layoffs but was denied.

“Because really, why should you get to choose to leave with dignity when you see your entire team — the people you worked hard to build a positive relationship with over the past year and a half — disappear?”

Debate over AI-driven layoffs

Block founder Jack Dorsey had earlier told employees that the layoffs were part of a broader structural shift driven by artificial intelligence.

But the employee questioned that reasoning.

“So why did this happen? Block claims it’s because AI is making the company so productive. In the last year, AI was shoved down everyone’s throats. Everything was about AI. We were told to use AI as much as possible. It’s nothing short of dystopian to be forced to employ the very tools that accelerate the disappearance of the jobs on which our livelihoods depend. Personally, I saw very limited gains in productivity from AI, nothing nearly profound enough to justify tossing out half of the company's workforce along with their institutional knowledge and expertise (bus factor, anyone?).”

She concluded by criticising the situation facing employees who remained after the layoffs.

“So 40% of employees had no choice but to take the severance and leave. The remaining 60% of us were offered fat paychecks to stick around and clean up the mess our ‘leadership’ created, all so we can continue contributing to a future where AI leaves us all unemployed.”

“No thanks, I'm out!”

Last month, Jack Dorsey announced that Block would cut around 4,000 jobs as part of its restructuring. Despite the layoffs, he said the company remains financially stable and is increasingly focusing on building and using advanced “intelligence tools.”

(This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Livemint has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)