- Insider spoke to one of the 2,800 employees laid off by Peloton this week. They requested anonymity to protect their career.
- They said the layoff felt surprising and scripted, and that they learned about their "complimentary" one-year membership in the news.
- This is their story, as told to writer Fortesa Latifi.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a Peloton employee included in the company's recent 2,800-person layoff. They spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their career, but Insider has verified their identity and former employment. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I spent more than a year working as a field-operations specialist for Peloton. But then, this week, my tenure at the company was suddenly over when I — and 2,800 of my colleagues — were laid off.
I loved working at Peloton and really cherished the friendships I made with my colleagues. I think that's the hardest part of all of this: knowing I won't be able to see my friends every day.
As a field-operations specialist, I was responsible for delivering bikes to customers' homes, setting them up, and demonstrating how to safely use them. I gave customers the white-glove experience that Peloton prided itself on by leading them through the setup and installation of the bike and its hardware, and I had fun doing it.
For a while, it was pretty flexible. If I had six deliveries to complete during the morning window but didn't have another one until 4 p.m., I could go home in between.
But then, things started to change. We were assigned extra tasks, given stricter rules to follow, and before Christmas, fewer people were joining Peloton. That was when things started to feel a little unstable.
Peloton really prides itself on transparency, but it felt like we had a total lack of information about the status of the company. I didn't feel like my job was stable, and the hours I was working were decreasing. I started networking before the holidays because I wanted to make sure I could land on my feet if I had to.
Even though things weren't going great at Peloton, I didn't think they would lay off 20% of the corporate workforce. It felt really sudden.
Earlier this week, I woke up to an email about CEO John Foley stepping down, and there were rumors of layoffs. It was about 11 a.m. when the first person I knew got the call from human resources that they were part of the layoffs. Even as it was happening, I didn't think it would affect so many of us.
When I got the call, I could tell my manager was reading off a script. They told me about the layoffs and that my position was being eliminated. They said there would be severance, though I don't have the exact details yet. The laid-off employees were also given a one-year free membership to Peloton, which was nice, but it's only worth about two days of work.
I have a bike, but I wasn't even told about the membership on the phone call. I found out through reading articles about the layoffs.
I'm glad that I started networking back in December. I also have some money saved, so I'm not as stressed as I could be. I'm definitely still in shock, but I'm also excited for potential opportunities in my future. I have a strong network of people who are looking out for me.
I'm disappointed in how this whole situation went down. Peloton always stressed to its team members that it prides itself on being transparent with its employees, but the first time I heard about the layoffs was through leaks on Blind and news articles revealing that McKinsey had been brought in to restructure the company.
Not long after, I'm laid off with 2,800 other people.
It's really disappointing, but I'm trying to stay positive. My options are wide open, and I'm excited to see what's next.