Henrik Fisker, CEO and founder, Fisker, faced harsh criticism from employees during an all-hands meeting recently, where the company announced another round of layoffs.
According to a report by Business Insider, several employees expressed frustration when Fisker appeared to avoid taking responsibility for the latest job cuts. Four employees who attended the meeting said they were disappointed by the CEO’s lack of accountability for the company’s financial struggles, which have brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.
Post the meeting, many employees discovered they had been laid off when they lost access to the company’s internal systems. An email from human resources later confirmed their layoffs.
The tension escalated when an employee criticised Fisker on the company’s internal Microsoft Teams channel. The employee mentioned that the company had always been blindsided to the mistakes committed by leadership and never addressed the ongoing issues with the employees.
During the meeting, Fisker reportedly deflected blame for the layoffs, stating that the decision was made by the John DiDonato , chief restructuring officer, Fisker.
The company has yet to release an official statement regarding the internal dissent and the recent layoffs.
Fisker, an electric-vehicle startup has also started laying off members of its workforce.
As per reports, Fisker intends to retain only a handful of staff members who are critical for its mission. However, exactly how many employees will be laid off in total is not officially known. Some were laid off last month. On 20 April 2024, Fisker had notified employees as per the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, about the possibility of them being laid off in two months’ time, if the company failed to find an investor or a buyer. The company has been discussing with some automakers for a deal. Nothing has fructified as yet.
