NEWS + ANALYSIS: Homie and Purple Innovation Experience Layoffs ... What Happens Now?

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

In light of additional information uncovered by us in the past 36 hours, the following story has been updated and slightly modified by us. However, the core essence of the story remains the same.

Dave Politis, 17 February 2022


The news was fairly straightforward: Two high-profile Lehi, Utah-based firms had layoffs this past Friday:

To the credit of its management, Homie disclosed its Reduction In Force via a public post on its LinkedIn profile, as shown below.

Homie post on its LinkedIn Page on 11 February 2022.

Additionally, after multiple people contacted me and Silicon Slopes about a concurrent layoff at Purple, I reached out to them and received the following:

"Thanks for reaching out. Here’s our company statement:
"After careful consideration and analysis, we made a difficult business decision last week to implement a reduction in our workforce. This effort was intended to right-size an ongoing imbalance between capacity and demand stemming from the pandemic. With an eye towards the future, we look forward to resetting production levels for more sustainable growth in the year ahead.
"Please let me know if you need anything further."

Clearly, very different approaches to sharing negative news with the public.

What I found quite interesting, however, was that when I dug through the 80+ Comments affixed to Homie's above-mentioned LinkedIn post, the cockles of my heart were warmed to see the overwhelming industry support, sympathy and empathy, both for those who had lost their jobs and for those still part of Team Homie.

And when I write overwhelming, I mean it.

Not only that, but over 60 companies from Utah and across the country took advantage of the features of LinkedIn to share within the Comment field that they were looking for new employees right now, in some instances, dozens of new employees.

To me this is plain smart business, on multiple fronts, not the least of which is that the most recent data shows Utah's unemployment rate at 1.9%, while the rate for the country as a whole is at 3.9%. {And for the record, both figures are below the historical averages for what is considered "Full Employment."}

Outlined below are 64 specific companies that shared Comments on the Homie LinkedIn post, each purporting to have job openings right now, with each company name hotlinked to

  • The respective company's LinkedIn Page,
  • An HR/recruiter page for the respective company, or
  • A direct link to a Job Openings page for the respective company.

Here they are:

  1. Adobe
  2. Allegiant
  3. Allstate Identity Protection
  4. Apartment List
  5. AtlasRTX
  6. Atomic
  7. Avalara
  8. Awardco
  9. BambooHR
  10. Belong
  11. Captal Platform
  12. CareRev
  13. Caring.com
  14. Chatbooks
  15. CHG Healthcare
  16. Clearlink
  17. Cory Executive Recruiting
  18. C.R. England
  19. eXp Realty
  20. Extra Space Storage
  21. Facet
  22. Finicity
  23. Flex Marketing Group
  24. Fund That Flip
  25. Gabb Wireless
  26. GPS Capital Markets
  27. Henry Schein One
  28. International Academies of Emergency Dispatch
  29. JobNimbus
  30. LeaseLock
  31. Lumio
  32. MetaProp
  33. NCX
  34. NetDocuments
  35. New Relic
  36. Orchard
  37. Peerspace
  38. Place
  39. PlexTrac
  40. Podium
  41. Polly
  42. Power Digital Marketing
  43. Priority Dispatch
  44. Prudence
  45. Reading Horizons
  46. Route
  47. SecurityScorecard
  48. Serenity Healthcare
  49. Shaker
  50. SiteRx
  51. SnapOne (aka, Control4)
  52. SolutionReach
  53. Stampin' Up!
  54. Sunrun
  55. SUSE
  56. Target
  57. Tava Health
  58. Therapy Staff, LLC
  59. Utah (the state itself)
  60. Vantage Point Consulting
  61. Velvet
  62. Verisys
  63. Via
  64. WAVE

Additionally, Silicon Slopes currently has more than 2,100 jobs listed on the beta version of the Silicon Slopes Jobs Board as I write this article.

Plus, anyone out of work or looking for a new employment opportunity can upload their resume onto the Silicon Slopes Jobs Board for free.


UPDATE

Since we shared this article on LinkedIn yesterday, Krystal Arnett (Homie's Sr. Director, Human Resources), has compiled and shared a Job Placement Support Form containing information from over 45 former Homie employees who are willing to be contacted by prospective employers.

This form includes contact information, links to LinkedIn profiles, and in many cases, the ability to download the individual's resume (on request).

I feel the Comment Arnett shared on LinkedIn gives a sense of Homie's approach to its layoff, and for this reason, we share it below:

Image captured from LinkedIn 17 February 2022.

Additionally, two new companies

both "threw their respective hats into the ring" to let individuals who have found themselves recently looking for new employment that they too (like the 64 companies noted above) are hiring right now.

And to provide a sense of the community is responding to Homie's approach to handling a difficult business reality, we thought you might appreciate us sharing the following LinkedIn comments:

Image captured from LinkedIn 17 February 2022.
Image captured from LinkedIn 17 February 2022.
Image captured from LinkedIn 17 February 2022.

ONGOING UPDATE

In an effort to support individuals who lost their jobs to said layoffs, we will continue to add below the Names of companies currently looking for new employees that are willing to hire out of Utah.

  1. SimpleCitizen;
  2. Consensus; and
  3. bChannels.

IF you would like your company added to this list here because you have current Job Openings, the best way to do so is to ping me on LinkedIn, either


Layoff Sucky-ness Juxtaposed by the Insanity of Today's Current Unemployment Reality

As someone who has been laid-off multiple times (beginning with my first employer as a post-college professional), I get it.

Being told (in essence),

"We like you, but not enough for us to continue to employ you"

... is totally and completely SUCKY! {Yes, in all caps.}

And having been one who had to decide which employees to let go because my business was struggling ... let's just say I would rather pull off my fingernails than go through that totally awful, no-good, horrible experience again.

Additionally, of all the weird things that have happened to me in my life, one I did not anticipate was being asked by a regional ecclesiastical leader after the DotCom Meltdown of 2001, and then by his counterpart at the neighborhood level, to become a volunteer Employment Specialist.  

The purpose of these "Callings" for an indeterminate length of time was simple:

"Help get breadwinners in our local and neighboring congregations back to work and out of the unemployment lines."

Yeah, no pressure, whatsoever!

And yet, in total, the combined length of said Callings stretched out to a full 36 months.

So ... with these points as contextual background, I share the following personal observation:

As absolutely, completely deflating and soul-sucking as being Laid-Off is (and it is), there is probably no better time within the past century to be looking for a job than right now. Period.

That does not mean it will be easy or fun.

But if you are now looking for a new job, I promise that there is AT LEAST one job that is right for you waiting for you to to simply find it.

So ... hang in there Homie-ites and Purple People.

It will all work out.


Some Final Personal Thoughts and Counsel

In business as in life, there is generally a yin and a yang, an ebb and flow, a push and pull as we each go through our various cycles.

In that regard, if we at Silicon Slopes can be of any assistance to you (personally or professionally), please reach out and let us know.

Additionally, as someone with over 35 years of marketing and communications experience, including significant Crisis Communications expertise, I have learned that efforts to hide negative news never succeed. Ever!

The more negative the news, the worse the blowback becomes when others discover (and they will discover it) that executives and corporate boards attempt to paint a rosy picture that just isn't so.

And this is true for both privately and publicly held companies.

Better to be transparent, tell the truth up front, address the perceived "Bad News" and the conditions that that led to that point, and then move forward.

We as Americans are remarkably forgiving and understanding, especially when others fess up, apologize when needed, and then change.

In that regard, Homie gets a round of applause from yours truly. Straight up, no ifs, ands or buts.

And for those who lost their jobs, again ... Hang in there.

It IS gonna be okay.

David


FINAL PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

For the record, if your organization would like to share news with our editorial team in advance of its planned release/publication date, we will honor your request to embargo that information prior to publication if you ask us to do so.

And we have done so numerous times already in the six months since I have been a part of Team Silicon Slopes. And that includes negative news.

All you have to do is ask.

DLP