Laid-off Juul employees are following Uber's lead and using a Google spreadsheet to help impacted coworkers land new jobs

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Laid-off Juul employees are following Uber's lead and using a Google spreadsheet to help impacted coworkers land new jobs

Juul

Associated Press

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  • Some of e-cigarette company Juul's employees are banding together to help employees that were laid off this week.
  • Juul employees are circulating a Google spreadsheet called "Juul Connection" containing around 40 names, job opportunities, and job meetup events.
  • In August, a similar spreadsheet listing laid-off Uber employees went viral after layoffs at the ride-hailing company.
  • Click here for more BI Prime stories.

E-cigarette company Juul confirmed that it is laying off 650 workers earlier this week, and plans to cut costs by $1 billion next year. Now, some company employees are banding together to help those who lost their jobs.

Business Insider obtained access to a shared Google spreadsheet that Juul employees are circulating called "Juul Connection." The spreadsheet contains nearly 40 names, job opportunities, and job meetup events. Business Insider was unable to determine who started the spreadsheet.

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The purpose is to help Juul employees stay connected and share job leads, a former employee in Juul's marketing team who shared the spreadsheet told Business Insider. The spreadsheet began circulating on the company's Slack soon after the layoffs were announced.

News of the layoffs was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

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This is the second time in recent months that a once-hot tech startup's employees used a crowdsourced spreadsheet to help their former colleagues find new jobs. In August, when Uber laid off upwards of 400 marketers, Michael Houck, a former employee of Uber Eats, Uber's food-delivery arm, circulated a similar spreadsheet.

The Juul job cuts represent 16% of its 4,051-person global workforce. A spokesperson for Juul said in a statement that employees will receive severance.

The changes come on the heels of the embattled e-cigarette maker bracing for a hit in sales after announcing that it would be halting sales of its mint-flavored vaping pods, its most popular flavor, after research indicated that mint and mango-flavored pods were the top choices for teens.

Juul's marketing team has been hit the hardest, a company spokesman confirmed to Business Insider. Under new CEO K.C. Crosthwaite, the company has suspended all broadcast, print and digital product advertising in the US, and the remaining team will focus on direct marketing to adult smokers, said the spokesman. In October, the company's first CMO Craig Brommers left the company.

"The writing was on the wall," another laid-off Juul employee told Business Insider. "People have been having sleepless nights."

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