Common decency says Bitwise’s former CEOs must apologize to laid-off employees | Opinion

Bitwise Industries presented bold mission statements in explaining what it did, like this one:

“Bitwise Industries was founded in 2013 by Irma L. Olguin Jr. and Jake A. Soberal with the goal of activating human potential for the technology industry in Fresno.”

That piece of company marketing referred to Bitwise’s method of taking people from low-income neighborhoods and putting them through its Geekwise Academy to learn computer coding skills. From there, the graduates could land jobs in technology and improve their lives. Fresno itself would benefit from a growing technology industry.

The idealism attracted many of Bitwise’s workers. In addition, Bitwise’s commitment to Fresno’s downtown was a shot of development, as it had four storefront operations and contracted secondary businesses inside, like restaurants. It made for a novel approach for the city, one that was badly needed for the downtown’s vibrancy.

In the end, an age-old business pitfall — running out of operating cash — appears to have doomed Bitwise. Memorial Day 2023 will be long remembered by Bitwise’s 300-400 Fresno workers and 600 at offices elsewhere as the moment when their “human potential” jobs ended.

Co-CEOs Soberal and Olguin Jr. appeared together on a video call with employees that fateful evening to announce that expected funding did not materialize, and the entire work force needed to be furloughed.

No apology or further explanation. No questions from workers allowed. End of call.

Since then, the employees have been formally let go. So have the two CEOs, fired by Bitwise’s board of directors.

What have the workers heard from Olguin Jr. and Soberal since the Memorial Day video call? Not a peep.

Their silence has been deafening, if somewhat predictable, given that former employees are now suing the pair in a class-action suit.

Legal issues notwithstanding, the furlough messaging delivered by Soberal and Olguin Jr. is a textbook example of precisely how not to give such news to employees.

They owe the workers, and the city for that matter, at least an apology. A better explanation than the terse, business-speak one already given — “Several critical (financial) transactions either did not materialize or materialized unfavorably” — would also help the community deal with this loss.

Bitwise workers’ pain

The pain felt by now ex-Bitwise employees came through in a commentary shared with The Bee Editorial Board by Katrina Riggs, who was in the marketing department of a Bitwise start-up.

“I believed it was possible to create a successful tech company in Fresno,” she wrote. “Most of all, I believed I had found a company that truly cared for its people. ... So how could the CEOs of a company that promoted a culture of inclusivity, that believed ‘rest isn’t earned, it’s necessary,’ that built castles for underdogs, instantly destroy the lives of those it claimed to serve?”

She wrote of the bigger impact beyond the former employees:

“And when those castle walls came tumbling down — walls I soon discovered never really belonged to Bitwise — what remains are the people. And the amazing people in these underserved communities deserve answers, too.”

Bitwise Industries is hardly alone in tech-industry layoffs this year. The Washington Post notes that 500 tech companies collectively have laid off nearly 150,000 people “amid slowing growth and fears of a recession.”

CEOs need to show empathy

That said, there is a right way to go about layoffs. The Post cites Mara Vandlik, owner of mkv2 strategies, a communications consultancy, for this essential approach: “The most basic requirement for a layoff announcement is to show some humanity, show some humility and do no additional harm.”

Ultimately, the demise of Bitwise Industries will lie in the failures of Soberal and Olguin Jr. to meet the financial challenges. Business mistakes happen.

But compounding that is how they failed their employees’ need for empathy and transparency when they were most vulnerable. Fresno’s downtown community, meanwhile, has to recalibrate to account for the now-vacant buildings and loss of human capital.

Silence instead of accountability. That’s a poor final chapter to this once-promising story.

This story was originally published June 23, 2023 at 10:28 AM.