Block worker says she quit after retention bonus offer

Naoko Takeda, a data scientist at Block's Cash App for two years, wrote on LinkedIn that after more than 4,000 colleagues were laid off the company offered her roughly a 75% pay increase and a retention bonus. She said she quit "almost immediately," writing, "That's not an honor.

It feels shameful and dehumanizing." Takeda estimated the overall retention package represented about a 90% bump when factoring in a one-time bonus. Screenshots of conversations showed employees who remained were offered retention bonuses of $80,000 and $60,000, with payouts split into quarterly installments.

Takeda wrote that about 70% of her immediate and sister teams were impacted and that the only colleague left on her team had started 3 days ago. Block did not respond to a request for comment. On an earnings call after the layoffs, CEO Jack Dorsey argued for AI efficiencies, saying, "A significantly smaller team using the tools we're building can do more and do it better.

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