LaTia Jacquise let go from Wizards of the Coast

D&D Community Manager LaTia Jacquise announced that she had been laid off from Wizards of the Coast after nearly four years as acting as Dungeons & Dragons’ community manager. Jacquise was an important part of D&D’s marketing department, with her posts and announcements appearing on numerous areas where D&D fans congregated, including here on EN World. She was also one of the main handlers for the advisory council that provided a community voice to various D&D plans. She is also a TTRPG designer, having co-authored Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep. She also was a cast member of Rivals of Waterdeep, having participated in that officially sanctioned D&D Actual Play for over 8 seasons. On a personal level, I’ve interacted with Jacquise numerous times over the years and always found her to be a pleasure and a professional to work with.

It’s unclear at this time whether Jacquise is the only layoff at Wizards of the Coast or if there is a wider round of cuts coming from the company. Wizards, in recent months, has been on a hiring spree. However, the CEO of Wizards of the Coast John Hight resigned and a wide search is ongoing for his replacement.

 

[Umbran]

There's something fundamentally wrong with that.

Well, we are always at risk of losing pretty much anything you can name - life and health, home, loved ones, possessions, and anything else, to things we don't control - fire, flood, accident, disease...

Disasters happen. Sometimes, disasters are other people....

 

[Belen]

My friends at Scholastica were hiring a social media person. If she sees the thread, I can put her in touch.

 

[Clint_L]

Cue the new hire announcement from Darrington Press, hopefully.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

They let go the community manager?! Sad. Poor message to send the community, unless there's some context we're missing.

 

[TheSword]

There's something fundamentally wrong with that.

The only time it’s beneficial is if it causes business to take a punt to make roles available that they otherwise wouldn’t/couldn't in perpetuity. Redundancy is supposed to allow business to respond to changing demands and needs.

However while there used to be a general sense that if your company was doing well and thriving your job would be safe. That’s no longer the case since the four horsemen of the beurocratic apocalypse came along - Health & Safety, Finance, HR and Procurement. Ironically those departments who don’t make anything or work with customers, who should be the first to be made redundant are actually the last. Because they’re the ones who generally decide who gets made redundant and why.

 

[MGibster]

There's something fundamentally wrong with that.

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley. Or as Picard put it, "It is possible to make no mistake and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life."

However while there used to be a general sense that if your company was doing well and thriving your job would be safe. That’s no longer the cast since the four horsemen of the beurocratic apocalypse came along - Health & Safety, Finance, HR and Procurement. Ironically those departments who don’t make anything or work with customers, who should be the first to be made redundant are actually the last. Because they’re the ones who generally decide who gets made redundant and why.

Most companies keep their HR department rather lean, so it's difficult to RIF too many of them before you start losing the ability to get the work done even when you expect to have fewer employees soon. I can tell you recruiters are typically among the first to go when there's a reduction in force or even a hiring freeze.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hasbro has listed the MTG version of this job on LinkedIn as a one-year contract position. (I write for a living so LinkedIn shows me writing openings.) I haven't seen the D&D position go up yet.

I suspect this is somehow meant to be a cost savings for the company, despite the reputational harm and loss of expertise.

 

[Xenolith234]

We probably prompted her to ask about the 3.5 and earlier SRDs too many times.

But in all seriousness, that truly sucks and I’m sorry for her. Every interaction I saw her have here was warm and professional.

 

[chuckdee]

Hasbro has listed the MTG version of this job on LinkedIn as a one-year contract position. (I write for a living so LinkedIn shows me writing openings.) I haven't seen the D&D position go up yet.

I suspect this is somehow meant to be a cost savings for the company, despite the reputational harm and loss of expertise.

Contract is also a way to reduce capitalized expenses in the way of wages. You typically pay the contractor more, but they are less visible.

 

[Sossij]

I suspect this is somehow meant to be a cost savings for the company, despite the reputational harm and loss of expertise.

The "this will save measurable money" over "this causes serious harm that's hard to measure" is a common issue in large organizations of any sort. Kind of like the classic "this guy makes 30% more than his peers, if we fire him and hire a new guy we're saving 30%" without wondering why someone makes 30% more than their peers.