This email was shared with the Chief team earlier today.
We have some very difficult news to share. Today, we are conducting a company-wide restructuring in order to drive stronger alignment between our team and key priorities for our members and business. As part of this restructuring, we are going to part ways with some incredibly talented colleagues.
We want to give you clarity on why we’re making these changes, but first we want to acknowledge how heavy and hard this is. We are a close-knit team, and you have all invested your time, hearts and energy in building this community and embodying the best of our values. For those impacted by this news, we want you to know that this is not at all a reflection of your performance or contributions. We are incredibly sorry for taking this step and, as founders, we take full accountability for the strategic decisions that led us here.
If you’re affected by this news, you’ll receive a private meeting invitation labeled “Chief Restructuring” by 8am ET, and we’ll use this time for a 1:1 conversation to share more details and answer questions.
What This Restructuring Means:
- We are exiting our operations in the UK to focus solely on our U.S. business where the vast majority (95%) of our members are based. Our services in the UK will continue as planned through the end of March.
- We are reducing headcount across the company, namely on our UK and Product & Technology teams, so that we can double down on our U.S. business and key areas of investment for our members, while right-sizing our cost structure.
- We are reorganizing the company to align with our 2024 strategy which includes more membership packages, higher-touch customer service, and more impactful in-person experiences. If you’re moving to a new team, you’ll receive an email from your people leader today and we will walk through org changes in greater detail at our All Hands this afternoon.
We want to be very clear that these teams — and everyone affected by this restructuring — have shown immense dedication to our mission and their work was important to the business.
Why We’re Taking This Step:
Over the past year, we spent a lot of time listening to our members — formally and informally — to truly understand what they want and need, where they see the greatest value in their Chief experience, and how Chief can help them maximize their leadership.
Our goal is to deliver an experience that enables our members to lead more effectively and exceptionally. We’re a member first organization and this means we need to be responsive to what our community wants and needs from us. It is critical that our company operating model is set up to deliver on those needs.
At the end of 2022, we responded to market demand and entered the UK. But after taking a critical look at where the vast majority of our members are located and where we needed to dedicate resources, we ultimately determined the U.S. market needs our sole focus.
During the pandemic, we invested in our Product & Technology capabilities to effectively deliver a virtual experience. But we continue to hear about the need for more in-person experiences and connections. While the digital experience is still important, we need to put much more emphasis on aspects of the experience that bring our members together in-person. This means we unfortunately need to right-size our teams, especially as we, like many companies, anticipate continued economic headwinds this year.
Our decisions about the roles impacted by headcount reductions were not taken lightly. We were guided by several key principles in alignment with our values — including our commitment to inclusion, treating everyone with compassion and respect, and clearly communicating the strategy guiding these actions.
In alignment with values, we conducted a comprehensive internal and external review to ensure that decisions were equitable and fair.
How We’re Supporting Our Team:
We are doing all that we can to support our departing team members and treat them with the respect, care, and empathy they deserve.
- Severance: Providing a minimum of 12 weeks of separation pay with an additional week per year of service.
- Benefits: Providing a minimum of 12 weeks of continued health insurance coverage for impacted team members and their dependents.
- Transition Resources: Providing 1-year of access to job placement tools including LinkedIn Premium. Impacted team members will also keep their company laptops, as we know this is important to help with job searching.
- Mental Health Resources: Providing 1-year of access to Headspace membership, to help provide wellness and wellbeing support.
- Mobilizing our Network: Creating an opt-in directory to share with our board, other portfolio companies, and members who raise their hands as interested in our deeply talented community, as a few examples.
- Parental Leave: Providing full parental leave in addition to the severance package for anyone who is currently or expecting to be on leave. We recognize the additional challenges that expecting or new parents face in the job search process — something we talk openly about at Chief — and want to support these team members as best as possible.
We understand this news also affects those of you who are staying and will have time in the weeks ahead for us to come together as a team and also offer individualized support where it’s needed. Expect to hear much more from leadership in the days ahead.
Our Team and Members in the UK:
We informed our UK team earlier this morning in an All Hands meeting. We will continue to provide a quality member experience through March 31 with the support of our staff who are staying on during this transition. We are taking care of our UK members through refunds, and access to our U.S. clubhouses through the end of 2024.
What’s Next:
We will be emailing all of our members and guides shortly to inform them of this news.
Please take the time you need to process this news and reach out for any support you need. We have an All Hands scheduled at 4pm ET today where we’ll review these updates in more detail and have time to answer questions.
This is an incredible team and we are saying goodbye to close colleagues and friends with a heavy heart. To those we’re parting ways with and those who are staying, we deeply appreciate each and every one of you and thank you for being part of this journey.
Carolyn and Lindsay