I’m sorry, but this message is a pretty tone-deaf way to communicate with employees, especially right now.
“Pre-order week is for our customers first.” Got it, Jon. Apparently employees, many of whom are also customers and shareholders, can wait our turn.
After another round of layoffs and with employees being asked to do more with less, telling the people who actually work here that we’re simply not the priority is… certainly a choice.
We can talk all day about putting customers first, but employees aren’t some separate category from the business. We ARE customers. We ARE shareholders. And we’re the people responsible for delivering the experience you’re telling customers to buy.
The continued framing of employees as a number or a resource rather than people who have invested years of their lives into this company is exactly why messaging like this lands so poorly.
There was a much better way to say “customers get first access” without essentially reminding employees where ELT believes we rank.
Tone matters. Especially right now.