Klarna employees roast its return-to-office plan with emojis as IPO hits the market

"Klarna informed employees last week that it's set to roll out a return-to-office policy later this month, citing the need to retain top talent that might otherwise leave for companies prioritizing in-person work, as Business Insider exclusively reported. Staff have reacted to the announcement with a wide range of emoji responses, according to a Slack post shared in a channel with roughly 3,000 workers and seen by Business Insider."

"The responses were varied and, at times, humorous: 341 employees reacted with a sad face emoji, 167 used an emoji reading "no," 149 chose a sweat-faced sad emoji. Additional responses included 41 "this sucks" emojis, and 43 using an emoji based on the viral "Hide the Pain Harold" meme. A small proportion appeared to signal approval of the plans, including 19 thumbs-up emojis and 14 rocket ship emojis."

"Other popular reactions included 131 sad cat emojis, 90 facepalm emojis, 86 crying emojis, and 73 clown face emojis. Some employees went for more whimsical options: 62 selected the "Homer Simpson backing into a bush" emoji, and 17 used a child going down a slide saying "bye" emoji. Klarna declined to comment. Other tech companies, including Amazon, Dell, and Meta, have implemented RTO policies in recent years."

Klarna announced a return-to-office policy requiring employees to be in the office three days a week, citing a need to retain top talent. Employees reacted on an internal Slack post using mostly negative emojis after comments were disabled, signaling disapproval. Reactions included 341 sad face emojis, 167 "no" emojis, 149 sweat-faced sad emojis, 131 sad cat emojis, 90 facepalm emojis, 86 crying emojis, and 73 clown face emojis. Smaller numbers indicated approval, including 19 thumbs-up and 14 rocket emojis. Klarna declined to comment. Other tech companies such as Amazon, Dell, and Meta have implemented RTO policies. Klarna set its IPO price at $40 a share.

Read at Business Insider