- Knotel laid off and furloughed a total of 50% of the company’s staff on Friday.
- Days earlier, Knotel CEO Amol Sarva emailed staff with his playbook for media: get good news out ahead of layoffs and dealing with brokers and landlords.
- The first tactic he listed was to “bury” by going to a small publication – the Commercial Observer, whose parent company is a Knotel investor.
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Days before Knotel laid off or furloughed half of its employees on Friday, CEO Amol Sarva sent a company-wide email with his media playbook, which twice referenced the need to “bury.”
Sarva said in the Tuesday afternoon email that an article featuring Knotel that had run earlier in the day was meant to “anticipate/front-run blowback from this week’s actions.” Those actions included working with brokers and landlords, the impending layoffs, and “customers/asking for things.”
Sarva’s email went on to detail a blog post that Knotel made on its website titled “Knotel’s New Plan for Extraordinary Times,” and called the blog post “the exact script and reasoning for talking to the press.”
A Knotel spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the leaked email to Business Insider and declined further comment.
Sarva’s theme for the story was real estate’s role to play in helping the community during the coronavirus crisis.
In the email, under a subheading called “tactics,” he listed: “bury: small pub e.g. CO.” He also wanted to “bury” through “timing – can’t wait so perhaps Monday afternoon after markets go nuts; don’t be the Monday 9am story.”
The Commercial Observer is a real estate-focused publication whose parent company is a Knotel investor, which the outlet notes in every story. On Tuesday afternoon, it ran a story about Knotel providing its empty space to governments globally for coronavirus relief efforts. About two and a half hours later, Sarva sent the email with his communications playbook and the bullet points he communicated to the publication.
On Friday afternoon, the Commercial Observer also had the first news about Knotel’s layoffs.
Commercial Observer editor-in-chief Max Gross said while he couldn’t comment on Knotel’s public-relations strategy, the parent company’s investment did not influence the publication’s coverage.
“We run an independent, unbiased, and in my view, world class editorial operation rooted in the core principles of journalism,” he said. “We’re not afraid to cover the realities of the business. Our story today on Knotel – 50% of their force getting laid off [or furloughed] – I’d argue is not a very positive story. We cover Knotel as we cover anything else.”
A Knotel employee said that, between the Commercial Observer story on Tuesday and Sarva’s subsequent email, employees knew job cuts were coming soon.
But they didn’t anticipate severance would be “really tight,” said the employee, particularly because Sarva’s comments highlighted that Knotel would be profitable this year. In a earlier statement on Friday to Business Insider for a story about the layoffs, Sarva said he still expected the company to be profitable in 2020.
Workers who were laid off could choose between two weeks’ pay or six months’ health insurance coverage, the employee said.
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