Jack Dorsey’s Block reels after rolling layoffs and an AI mandate

After hundreds of workers were laid off in early February from jack dorsey’s Block, employees who remain say internal culture has deteriorated: performance anxiety is running rampant, using generative AI is effectively required, and overall morale is rapidly falling.

Layoffs began in early February and may hit a significant share of staff

The layoffs began in early February and started as a series of cuts rather than a single round. Company headcount was around 11, 000 before the reductions, and the layoffs could eventually impact up to 10 percent of the workforce. Management has enacted the firings slowly over the course of weeks and told employees the process will continue through the end of this month.

Jack Dorsey presses AI mandate in all‑hands

At an all‑hands meeting held after hundreds of staff had already been fired, Jack Dorsey said frequent topics cited by workers in their regular updates included “widespread concerns about layoffs, ” “performance anxiety, ” and “the tension between accelerating delivery through AI adoption versus maintaining code quality and engineering rigor. ” Dorsey reiterated that the layoffs were made for performance reasons, saying there was “a sizable portion of our population that have been phoning it in, ” and he urged remaining employees to use generative AI tools to maximize productivity or risk being outpaced by competitors.

Engineering lead framed cuts as performance-based

Arnaud Weber, Block’s engineering lead, sent an email after the initial wave of layoffs characterizing the departures as performance‑related rather than a cost‑saving measure. In that message Weber wrote, “As part of our 2025 performance cycle, we have parted ways with teammates who weren't meeting the expectations of their role, ” and added, “These departures were based on clear performance gaps, role expectations, and alignment coming out of calibrations on the bar for each level. ” Multiple employees said they were appalled by that framing and disagreed with management’s message that the firings were merit-based.

Employees say weekly updates are summarized by AI and morale has plunged

Block employees are currently expected to send an update email to Dorsey every week; Dorsey then uses generative AI to summarize the thousands of messages. Seven current and former Block employees who spoke on condition of anonymity described a workplace where “morale is probably the worst I’ve felt in four years” and where workers are left uncertain about their futures. One employee wrote that “We don't yet know if our livelihoods will be affected, and this makes it incredibly hard to make major life choices without knowing if we still have a job next week. ”

Some workers push back on top-down AI directives

Not all employees embraced the push to rely on AI. “Top-down mandates to use large language models are crazy, ” one current Block employee said. “If the tool were good, we’d all just use it. ” The same employees described growing performance anxiety as management links productivity expectations to generative AI adoption.

Block is the parent company behind the merchant payment processor Square and the payment app Cash App. Dorsey cofounded the company in 2009 after previously cofounding Twitter. A Block spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

The company has signaled that the headcount reductions will continue through the end of this month; employees continue to receive weekly update requests and management has tied performance messaging to the 2025 performance cycle.