An employee who was laid off by HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake has shown his support for his former boss after he posted a picture of himself crying on LinkedIn.
Wallake went viral this week after he shared his tearful picture alongside a lengthy post explaining his business-to-business marketing agency had 'just had to layoff a few of [its] employees'.
"Days like today, I wish I was a business owner that was only money driven and didn't care about who he hurt along the way. But I'm not," Wallake wrote.
"So, I just want people to see, that not every CEO out there is cold-hearted and doesn't care when he/she have to lay people off."
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The CEO's post received thousands of likes and comments, though many of the responses accused Wallake of portraying himself as a victim and criticised him for posting the picture rather than taking action to help the employees who had been let go.
After the post went viral, former HyperSocial employee Noah Smith took to LinkedIn to share his own post, saying he had been 'working really hard' to help keep the company afloat, but learned this week it 'didn't have the funds' to continue employing him.
"I was a bit shocked, but didn’t feel any immediate rush of anger or resentment," Smith wrote. "After reading [Wallake's] post, my first thought was just: yep, there goes Braden, being way too honest on LinkedIn again and putting his heart on the line.
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"Now I feel a mixture of sadness and excitement."
Smith explained that Wallake's post had resulted in 'a rush of people willing to reach out and try and help', saying he was 'thankful' for the new opportunities that had come about but also 'sad' to see those who were mocking the CEO.
"There are countless posts of people mocking Braden's post, with pictures of them crying and then nothing but cynicism and hate and mistrust of what he was saying," he wrote.
"Do you have nothing better to do with your day than scroll LinkedIn looking for people to bring down?"
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Smith went on to address any potential future employers and stressed he only wanted to work for someone like Wallake, who 'has a positive outlook on life'.
He continued: "I'm not interested in working for you if you think working more hours ONLY to make more money is the most valuable way to spend your time.
"I'm interested in working for a company that understands that its employees have lives, families, friends, and interests that most likely supersede the company's goals."
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Following his initial post, Wallake apologised if his words were misconstrued and said he wanted to 'make better of this situation' by starting a thread to give people looking for work a chance to advertise themselves.
He also shared a post dedicated to Smith, describing him as a 'fantastic human being' who is 'beyond creative' and 'fantastic about teaching people new things'.
Smith's support for Wallake has been met with mixed responses of its own, though many applauded the former employee for speaking out.
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Topics: Viral, Social Media
Emily Brown