Block CEO Jack Dorsey plans to swiftly fire underperforming employees in a restructuring move.
The company aims to cut hundreds of employees over the next year to reach a 12,000-employee cap.
Dorsey announced the elimination of "performance improvement plans" (PIPs), criticizing them as a late and ineffective approach.
Instead, the new plan involves continuous evaluation based on "milestones" like product launches, providing quick feedback, and immediate decisions on employee retention.
Managers were warned not to tolerate mediocrity, with a commitment to maintaining a high performance standard and quick action if needed.
Dorsey's approach echoes the urgency seen in similar moves by Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai in 2022.
The restructuring plan was communicated in a staffwide message published by Business Insider on November 22, 2023.
The urgency in Dorsey's approach is compared to similar pushes by CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg at Meta and Sundar Pichai at Google in 2022, which eventually led to massive layoff rounds in both companies.
Block will no longer utilize PIPs, and instead, Dorsey proposes relying on "milestones" such as product launches for quick feedback, allowing managers to decide promptly whether to part ways with underperforming employees.
Managers were warned that mediocrity or low performance from leads would not be tolerated, and a high bar would be set with swift action if issues arise.