A message to Lucid employees

The following email was shared with Lucid employees earlier today.

Today is a challenging day. We have made the tough decision to restructure our team to ensure Lucid is set up for continued success. This means we will say goodbye to around 75 teammates today, or about 7% of our employees.

We came to this decision as a leadership team and with input from our board of directors. Ultimately, the decision was mine. In this email, I’ll share the reasons why we are making these changes, how we will support affected teammates, and where we go from here.

Why are we making these changes?

As we have considered these changes, we have sought to balance the impact this will have on individuals and our responsibility to set Lucid up for continued, long-term success.

The reality is that Lucid is a strong business that has grown steadily for over a decade. We continue to grow, we are profitable, and by all accounts, our prospects are bright. So, why would we make these changes? 

There are a few factors that we considered in our decision.

• At our scale, our focus needs to be on furthering profitable growth that will enable us to continue providing long-term value for our customers. 
• Increasingly, we operate in a highly dynamic market where business and technological changes require us to be nimble and to consider new investments as opportunities arise. 
• To maintain profitability while enabling further investment, we have made the hard call to reduce investment in some areas, allowing us to prioritize emerging opportunities that can help us provide greater value to our customers.

What changes are we making?

1. We are reducing the size of our team by about 7%. While the reductions span many groups within the company, we did not reduce all functions equally across the board. As I mentioned previously, our goal is to help ensure we are invested in the ways that will help Lucid continue to thrive. With that in mind, we have been very deliberate about how we rebalance. We have looked at areas where changing business needs mean we are currently over-invested, places where we can simplify management structures, and we have looked to merge teams where there are opportunities to run more efficiently.
2. Further, we remain focused on reducing non-headcount spending and finding ways to increase productivity. This includes reducing in-person company events, streamlining software and other purchases, and optimizing overall operating expenses. We will share more details about these changes on Slack shortly. 

Our approach to managing departures

Employees affected will conclude their work with Lucid today. If your job has been affected, you will receive a calendar invitation within the next half hour to meet with a senior leader and a people ops representative to discuss the details.

To support our teammates who will be leaving, we will be offering the following assistance: 

• Cash severance: We will provide a minimum of 10 weeks of base pay plus one additional week for each full year of service at Lucid. We will also waive any sign-on bonus provisions. Any accrued but unused PTO will be paid out. 
• Bonus and commissions: Departing teammates will receive their full Q3 commissions, less any amount already paid for August or a prorated amount of their annual bonus, adjusted for company performance.
• Healthcare: For employees enrolled in benefits through Lucid, we will cover the cost of healthcare benefits through the end of the calendar year. 
• Immigration: For any affected employees who are on a work-sponsored visa, we will provide one-on-one support and will waive any repayment of visa-related fees.
• Laptops: To assist in helping with job searches, employees will have the option to keep their laptops once remotely wiped. 

Today’s focus

Today, our priority will be in supporting departing teammates. We will be having individual conversations with anyone whose job will be impacted. 

We understand that even if your role isn’t directly impacted, you will have questions. Let me outline how we plan to help get you answers over the course of the next few days. I appreciate your patience as we work through this process. 

• Tomorrow, we will hold two Company Update meetings at different times during the day (morning for US and EMEA, afternoon for APAC). In advance of those meetings, we will solicit questions that you would like us to address. You can submit those questions in the form below. 
• Throughout this week, departments will have a brief departmental meeting to discuss any changes, such as shifts in reporting structures, that are happening within the department due to these changes. 

Moving forward

I understand that this news is hard to digest. For those leaving Lucid, I am truly sorry. I am sorry for the impact that this will have on you. Thank you for the positive impact you have had on Lucid. I and the rest of the executive team are committed to doing whatever we can to help ease this transition—from helping to source opportunities to providing references. 

For those of you who will remain at Lucid, I understand that this news is difficult and unsettling. It will take time to process this news individually and among teams. Please give each other grace as you process the information.

Building a great future for Lucid comes, at times, with difficult decisions like we have made today. Though we face challenges, Lucid’s future is as bright as ever, with enormous opportunities in front of us. 

—Dave