Important Changes to Our Team
The following message from Wattpad Interim President KB Nam was shared with Wattpad staff earlier today.
Hi Everyone,
While I’ve had the opportunity to speak to you all at many All-Hands in my short time at Wattpad, the news I’m sharing today is a lot more difficult.
As a new leader at Wattpad, I’ve seen the passion everyone here has for our platform, writers, and community - and for that, I am truly grateful. I know that everyone is here because we all believe in our mission to entertain and connect the world through stories, celebrating and elevating the diverse readers and writers who have found a home on Wattpad.
As you all know, the global economic reality over the past year has fundamentally changed - and like other businesses, we are not immune. Despite our best efforts over the past several months to limit the impact of the changing economic environment, today, we’ve made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our workforce. Of the 267 amazing people who work for Wattpad, 42 will be leaving the company.
One of our core values is around Building it Forward, and this change is necessary for us and our future success as we shift towards a more focused approach to nurturing writers and their careers. During this difficult time, I’m committed to leading with our values and in that spirit, I’m going to share as much as I can about who is affected, why we made this decision, how we plan to support you all through the transition, and where we go from here.
How we got here
For the last 17 years, Wattpad has encouraged diverse voices and empowered writers to realize their aspirations. In recent years, we have leveraged our growth and strong economic conditions to invest in new technologies, hire top talent - adding nearly 100 new people over the past two years - and develop innovative tools and resources for our community.
The reality is the conditions that have historically enabled us to make bold moves have changed, and we are operating in a very different environment today. After nearly doubling the size of our teams, it’s now clear that we need to recalibrate based on our current business needs and realities.
What this means for our team
Practically speaking, going forward, this means we are going to be relentlessly focused on serving the needs of our writers.
Departures will impact individuals from all teams. But I want to be clear: this does not mean that these team members haven’t been an important part of our work. It’s important to note that these decisions are in response to changing business realities and needs, and are in no way a reflection of individual contributions. Everyone at Wattpad has accomplished a tremendous amount and had a positive impact on our company.
What is next?
During this challenging time, we remain committed to leading with our values. We will work closely with all teams to ensure that everyone affected is treated with respect and care. Our goal is to provide clarity to everyone as soon as possible.
Within the next 30 minutes employees who will be leaving Wattpad will receive a meeting invite from HR for a one-on-one conversation. During these private conversations, which will be happening this afternoon, impacted employees will be informed of their individual severance package details. We want to support those leaving Wattpad as best we can, and so we’ve arranged for:
Twelve weeks of severance as a minimum
Six months of continued benefits
Employees will be able to keep their laptops and other devices
I know this is a lot to process. I know you may be frustrated, disappointed, angry, or saddened by this news. Our priority today and for the rest of this week is taking care of everyone impacted by this decision, making sure we’re supporting both our departing colleagues and those remaining.
Over the course of the afternoon and next few days, managers and department leads will be reaching out to check in with teams and address any questions. We’ll also regroup in the coming days for an AMA, and to share more information about the future and our path forward.
For those leaving us, I want to say I am sorry. Thank you for all your contributions to Wattpad and your commitment to our vision of entertaining and connecting the world through stories. You are our teammates and friends, and your impact will be felt by all of us for a long time to come.
Thank you, everyone.
KB