Snap's 'messy' mass layoff happened so fast some employees were locked out of work tools before, and during, meetings in which they were to be let go

• Snap let go more than 1,200 people in a mass layoff last week.
• The process of actually laying off workers turned out to be "messy, at best," workers said.

Snap's mass layoff last week came as a surprise to many insiders and industry observers. Even more surprising to those at the company may have been the "messy" way the company went about letting people go.

Half a dozen current and former workers explained to Insider the way Snap last week undertook axing more than 1,200 people, or about 20% of the company's full-time workforce. Most people suddenly on Wednesday had short meetings with their direct managers put on their calendars without explanation. During the meetings, managers "read a script" about what was happening and would happen next and where people could access information on severance and benefits.

At least, that was the experience of those who were still able to login to their work tools. Many people who were laid off were locked out of company tools before, and some even during, meetings in which they were to be told they were being let go.

"It was messy, at best," a worker affected by Snap's layoffs said.

"Before we were even finished being told what was happening, teams were kicked off the calls, computers completely wiped," the person added. Snap's internal tech team did a mass revocation of all corporate authorizations for those being laid off, so "some people couldn't even login to get laid off," this person noted.

Without access to company email or Slack, some former staffers said last week they were left with limited information and no responses from their attempts to contact Snap's HR department.

"We had to continuously reach out via text to colleagues who were not laid off and ask them to put messages in Slack about how we were supposed to access stuff to know more details," another former workers said.

A Snap spokeswoman characterized what laid off workers experienced as "IT issues" and said that Snap CEO Evan Spiegel "apologized for this at the start of our company all hands on Thursday." Laid off employees were not present at the meeting as they were let go the day before. Spiegel also during the meeting urged workers who managed to keep their jobs to see the company reorganization as an opportunity to "prove the haters wrong," as Insider previously reported.

"We are conducting a post-mortem and continue to follow up with any team members who may have been affected," the Snap spokeswoman added.

Are you a Snap employee or someone with insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com, on secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267, or through Twitter DM at @hayskali. Reach out using a non-work device.