Operations Manager Says Overhiring Led to Her Layoff From Block After Four Years

Sneh Hira joined Block's Afterpay business as an operations manager in 2022 and was the only person in that role on her team when she went on maternity leave in May 2023, according to Business Insider. Over the following years, she watched the company add more operations managers than she felt the workload required, splitting up work she had once handled alone.

In February 2026, she learned she had been laid off, one of many employees affected in the same round. Looking back, she attributes the cuts partly to that overhiring, along with Block's push to integrate its various businesses.

Hira, who is in her early 40s and lives in Chicago, said her job search that followed was difficult and took months to turn around, though the willingness of others to help along the way restored her faith in people.