Delta slammed over old tech in outage spat, Axios layoff note draws scrutiny
Plus, the Office of Personnel Management claims federal return-to-office programs should be customized.
Greetings, comms pros! Let’s take a look at a few stories from the last week and see what we can learn from them.
1. Microsoft fires back at Delta after Crowdstrike outages
After an outage with Crowdstrike a few weeks ago, Delta customers nationwide were left scrambling when thousands of flights were canceled with little notice. Delta blamed Microsoft for the Crowdstriek outage claiming the fault was with antiquated Windows software. Now, the tech giant is fighting back by claiming Delta rejected offers for help and is misrepresenting the situation publicly in emails obtained by The Verge.
“Microsoft empathizes with Delta and its customers regarding the impact of the CrowdStrike incident. But your letter and Delta’s public comments are incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation,” says Mark Cheffo, co-chair of Dechert’s global litigation practice, in a letter on behalf of Microsoft to Delta’s lawyers.
“Even though Microsoft’s software had not caused the CrowdStrike incident, Microsoft immediately jumped in and offered to assist Delta at no charge following the July 19th outage,” says the letter from Cheffo. “Each day that followed from July 19th through July 23rd, Microsoft employees repeated their offers to help Delta. Each time, Delta turned down Microsoft’s offers to help, even though Microsoft would not have charged Delta for this assistance.”
Communicating with your partner organizations in a timely, transparent and organized manner is a central tenet to handling any brand crisis.. As the kids say, Microsoft “brought the receipts” after Delta said the issues were rooted in problems caused by Microsoft software.
In any case, Delta’s response here will be interesting. There’s already a class action lawsuit in place that’s aiming to get reimbursement from the airline, and Delta appears to be on an island regarding support. As a show of good faith to customers and employees dealing with angry travelers in a public-facing manner, Delta should own up to the problems. It’ll help restore Delta’s image as a good airline to travel with and a positive place to work.
2 . Axios cuts 10% of employees, shares note from leadership on decision
Axios, a company known for its concise method of information sharing, has cut 10% of its staff — but the news of the layoffs might be secondary to the way it was done.
According to an internal memo shared on X, CEO Jim VandeHei formatted the layoff notice in the company’s familiar “Why It Matters” format, a decision that’s caught some derision online.
NEW: Axios is laying off 50 people across the company. CEO @JimVandeHei just sent out this note — which says the layoffs are because of “changes in the media business” pic.twitter.com/lLVemNFh0N
— Katie Robertson (@katie_robertson) August 6, 2024
With accusations of the method being “cringe” from users online, Axios reporter Ashley Gold said that those doing so were missing the point about people losing their jobs.
it’s a sad day for those of us at Axios that are losing beloved colleagues — i promise our internal email format is not the most gutting thing about this news and saying so is not very nice to those laid off!
— Ashley Gold (@ashleyrgold) August 6, 2024
While VandeHei’s message is pretty thorough with reasoning and next steps following the layoffs, one can’t help but think of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s words, “The medium is the message.”
The way you package messages will have everything to do with how it’s received both internally and externally. Layoffs should be conducted with empathy – look to Spotify’s case from last year, in which CEO Daniel Ek outlined the reasoning and a deep appreciation for employees, as a a good example. If people think that you’re getting too cute with the packaging these often devastating notices come in, then they also think you’re not taking it seriously and you’ve probably made a mistake.
3. Government agency says return-to-office shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all
As the memories of COVID-related work shutdowns fade farther into the rear-view mirror, many offices are calling their employees back to their desks on a part or full-time basis. However, according to the Office of Personnel Management, these processes should not be monolithic.
According to Federal News Network:
“When thoughtfully and intentionally implemented, remote work can be a significant benefit to employers for certain types of roles in certain circumstances,” OPM Acting Director Rob Shriver wrote in Wednesday’s guidance. “At the same time, remote work is not suitable for all types of roles. Striking the right balance of in-person work and use of workplace flexibilities such as remote work is critical to support the long-term organizational health of federal agencies.”
It’s all about the balance! Just because your company signed a lease at the wrong time and feels compelled to get people back in seats, that’s not a return-to-office (RTO) strategy that’ll set you up for success. Consider the impacts on the people involved and the feasibility of such a move.
, Intentionality, clarity, and responsiveness will go a long way to ensure you don’t make important RTO decisions, or other impactful decisions on workplace culture, in a vacuum.
4. How about some good news?
- Archaeologists discovered an ancient pot of gold in an ancient city in Turkey.
- A 12-year-old girl in Maryland won the top award for fishing in the state.
- A community in England banded together to raise funds to rebuild a mosque damaged in riots.
- Ragan Training is great for communications pros to find inspiration and resources.
- You should be rewarded for your work. Find out how to earn an award here!
Have a great weekend comms all-stars!
Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports, a good pint and ’90s trivia night.
