Mailchimp Employees Unhappy With Intuit’s Handling of Buyout

Mailchimp employees are not happy with how Intuit is handling the buyout of their company, complaining of decreased wages and lost benefits.

Intuit and Mailchimp made headlines in September when it was announced Intuit would be acquiring the email marketing service for $12 billion. Mailchimp’s platform is a natural compliment to Intuit’s small business tools.

Unfortunately, it appears the merger is being grossly mishandled, according to Mailchimp employees that spoke with Business Insider. Some employees have discovered their pay will be lower working for Inuit than Mailchimp, and many employees saw their health benefits expire Sunday.

“The general feeling from those I’m speaking to is that the transition has been so badly handled that the only explanation is that Intuit wants to drive attrition,” one employee said.

Intuit has said the employees will be re-enrolled in health benefits, but the retroactive coverage will only taken effect once the paperwork is finalized. In the meantime, employees will have to pay for medical expenses themselves until the process is complete, leading to no small degree of consternation. For example, one employee already had to cancel treatments for a serious ongoing condition because of the cost of paying out-of-pocket, even on a short-term basis.

As Insider points out, this is just the latest cause of employee outrage over the buyout. Mailchimp founders had long avoided giving stock options to employees, saying they would never sell the company and therefore the usual benefits of stock options weren’t a factor. Employees were also shorted on the bonuses they were promised as part of the buyout, with the amount coming in less than expected.

Overall, the two company founders have made off like bandits, thanks to the sale, leaving their employees to keep drawing the short straw.