Why has Irish tech firm Intercom been so dogged by ‘unnecessary chaos’? via irishtimesbiz
Intercom was no different. It announced two rounds of jobs cuts in 2022 – one in September and a second in November – that led to the overall loss of 13 per cent of its global workforce of about 1,000 people.
But McCabe’s return has also brought a change to company policies – one the company has since acknowledged was poorly communicated – and with it, some argue, the company culture that Intercom had previously been so proud of. There was a clue about the company’s future priorities in the message that he sent employees announcing his return.
In early June, the video was posted to the company’s YouTube Shorts and TikTok channels. Within a couple of hours, it had been removed, although the LinkedIn post that pointed towards the video stayed up for some time before it, too, vanished. Meanwhile, employee resource groups were told they would no longer be able to promote those groups in general Slack channels to which all employees had access. The groups are a diversity and inclusion initiative, common in industry and led by employees, usually with the backing of the company. In Intercom, that previously meant an executive sponsor for the group.
The focus on company success and the work that Intercom is doing is nothing new for McCabe. In an interview with The Irish Times in 2015 in his first stint as chief executive, he was proud of the lack of Silicon Valley trappings about Intercom. The focus was on building the business, rather than improving your foosball score.
That was something that Intercom’s executives, McCabe included, were at pains to point out in a follow-up meeting with staff. The chief executive described the situation with the new policies on ERGs as a “communications f**k up” to staff. While staff may decorate their own desks – as long as the company does not deem it “inappropriate or offensive” – Intercom says it will continue to decorate the office for “some holidays that leadership determines are not related to social or political issues, like halloween or Christmas”.
“This is not about Pride, this has nothing to do with Pride. For whatever it’s worth, I have long supported Pride, Intercom has long supported Pride. I’ve personally been involved in and pushed a lot of initiatives that have helped certain groups, certain people, with the support they needed at any point in time,” he told staff.
She was a well-liked leader by all accounts, and staff were unsettled by the move. In internal communications, seen by The Irish Times, they raised concerns over the abruptness of her departure from the role, the lack of transition, concerns that it would change Intercom. Staff had also expressed concern about McCabe’s activity on Twitter, where his profile identifies him as “CEO and founder at @intercom”. Following the announcement of the leadership change late last year, a letter was sent from the leaders of the ERGs to the board, raising a number of concerns surrounding his reappointment.
“I’ve learned too many times that Twitter is exactly the wrong way to communicate. It’s just a shitty communication channel. And I’m going to be a lot more thoughtful about what I engage in,” he told staff.
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