Can you guess how Stephen Elop addressed the employees that Microsoft is giving the pink slip to?

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Among yesterday'sburst of news that came out straight from Microsoft, one story in particular came with a higher amount of dismal and will surely affect a large number of people. That's right, we are talking about Microsoft's layoff plans to give the walking tickets to roughly 18,000 of its employees, 12,500 of which are former Nokia workers. While the tech company says that it will provide adequate severance pay to the discharged workforce, it's still sad to see so many people lose their jobs.

The person that announced the massive layoff was no other than Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, but Stephen Elop, the ex-head of Nokia, which is now part of Microsoft, also addressed the soon-to-be-unemployed former Nokia workers in an elaborate memo. Similar to his "burning platform" memo (we bet Mr. Elop has a thing for memos), his latest piece of writing also comes with a rather gloomy tone. The memo makes it perfectly clear that Microsoft doesn't perform as good as it desires on the smartphone market. Elop's opening words, however, are regarded by many as rather inappropriate. Why, exactly?
Well, the ex-Nokia CEO, who is now an executive VP of Microsoft, started his memo with "Hello there". While this might be perfectly okay for an informal letter, many critics quickly took jabs at Stephen Elop and stated that his salute was downright "brutal", while some black humor devotees regarded Elop's opening words as "priceless" and "classic". 

This is not the first time Elop receives such a negative backlash. Back in September 2013, Elop took advantage of a particular clause in his contract and was given a $25-million compensation. Elop refused to reconsider taking the so-called "golden parachute", because he had been in the process of divorcing his wife and her attorneys wouldn't have given him a permission to do so. 

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So, with everything being taken into account, what's your opinion? Were Stephen Elop's opening words harsh or some people are just overreacting?

Here's Stephen Elop's full memo:


source: Times of India, The Wall Street Journal

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