Before we get to the gist of this post, I want to send a heartfelt TLO “Attaboy” to former Beach Boys bouncer and current Paycom Solo-CEO Chad Richison.
According to an Oklahoman article—one that "included several inaccuracies"—Paycom had itself a very splendid and profitable 2024! They reported $1.88 billion in revenue, $502 million in net income, and managed to do all this despite their main product sucking!
Seriously, isn’t it cool to live in a world where a company can have a shitty product that even its founder and CEO doesn’t like and still make $502 million? How’s that for some bad-ass late-stage capitalism?!
Even with massive revenues, an extra half-billion in profit, and a rising stock price helping prop up Chad’s net worth, the company hasn’t let up on its cold and vicious employee purge that we first covered late last year.
In fact, they’ve seemingly doubled down, launching their own internal DOGE—or, in honor of Chad, should we call it CH-OGE?—that’s transformed what was once a proud and happy workplace culture into a dystopian one built on fear, paranoia, and hardline dickishness.
Naturally, we know all this thanks to the Ogle Mole Network.
Since the start of the year, we’ve received over 50 (!!!) emails, messages, and even an old-school letter from current and former Paycom employees and insiders.
These dispatches, although unverified, detail how employees – or, at least, former employees – work in seemingly fear as Chad and his new executive team reasserts control and power over their workforce.
They also detail the company's latest clandestine attempt to purge staff without officially reporting layoffs.
For example, earlier this week, the company apparently purged its Project Management Department, because, well, they wanted to.
The exact number of employees affected and other details is unknown—some Moles say 30, while others speculate it's in the hundreds—but the message is clear: Paycom is still cleaning house.
Yikes! That may suck for the employees who lost their jobs, but I guess it’s good news if you need to hire someone to manage your projects. I hear it’s a buyer’s market out there!
In all seriousness, my heart goes out to all the employees who were let go by a company that just made $500,000,000 in net income in 2024. I’ve been laid off before and—even though it was one of the greatest things to happen to me and I have no hard feelings over it—I know how much it sucks. I wish these employees the best of luck finding a better place to put their skills to use.
Unfortunately, it’s not just project managers who were unceremoniously shown the door.
In addition to purging departments, Paycom has been working hard to get rid of selfish employees who aren’t team players and do classless things that are bad for the company—like, you know, requesting PTO or time off to have a baby.
Eden Murphy—a Paycom employee from Texas—learned this the hard way. Check out her now-deleted LinkedIn post:
Yep, nothing says ‘corporate integrity’ quite like firing a seemingly good employee two weeks before maternity leave, and then—like they're a bad Tinder date—chalking it all up to them just “not being a good fit.” Even by “greedy corporations that don’t care about employees” standards, that’s a brutal move.
Eden also left a video about the situation that you can watch here. Both it and the LinkedIn post went viral on social media and Reddit, but were eventually taken down because, well, Paycom apparently sued her over it!
I haven’t been able to get my hands on the suit—I believe it was filed in Texas—so I’m not privy to all the details or whether Paycom actually has a case. But you have to wonder if the real goal was to send a message to other ex-employees who were laid off after requesting time off.
You know, employees like this:
Serious question—what’s the point of offering employees PTO or leave if you’re just going to turn around and fire them when they actually need to use it? Even home insurance companies that drop customers after they file a claim think that’s unethical and heartless! Did Chad hire Cruella de Vil as his new HR director, or is this just standard practice at Paycom?
To their credit, Paycom is taking the posts by Eden seriously... by requiring employees to sign updated agreements that prevent them from talking about the company on social media for two years after they are fired!
I asked our Moles to forward me the new employee agreements, and before you could say “Can you stop by HR and make sure to bring your employee badge,” I had two big fancy legal documents in my digital possession.
One of them was a new EMPLOYEE NON-SOLICITATION AGREEMENT, while the other was an EMPLOYEE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ASSIGNMENT, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER AGREEMENT.
The latter is the one that had the post-employment social media ban:
Once again, TLO is the Rodney Dangerfield of Oklahoma media—we can’t get any respect!
Seriously, how did we not get a shoutout in this thing? Thanks to us, employees can’t even bring phones into meetings anymore!
Can't Chad have his legal team update the agreement to prohibit employees from reaching out to us, too? I know it won’t stop our Moles from providing tips and info, but it would be a nice gesture and acknowledgment of our Paycom reporting efforts.
Anyway, from a corporate bully flexing its muscles like a medieval lord and punishing the peasants' perspective, sneaking a social media criticism ban into an employment agreement is a pretty savvy move by Paycom.
One way to control the message is to not let there be a message, and threatening to use their billions to wage lawfare against lowly employees is a solid deterrent!
For example, this will likely prevent current employees from complaining online about having to go to work on days when the roads around town are frozen solid.
Obviously, this policy caused some controversy, and employees reached out to vent about it:
Once again, I haven’t been able to personally verify all the claims, details and numbers from these and other dispatches. I assume the numbers may be exaggerated or off, but once again, it's the general dickishness here that's so appalling.
Even if it's only a department or two, forcing employees who could easily work from home to travel over super slick ice-covered roads is irresponsible and borderline evil. Not only is it a safety hazard, but with schools closing and the whole city shutting down, it creates an insane burden on employees with families.
“Sophia. Time to wake up, dear. Mom has to leave for work. Keep the doors locked and make sure Jackson gets his bottles. I'll try to be home by 5:30.”
“But Mommy. I’m only 8 years old. I’m scared.”
“I know, but it’s important that mommy gets to work today so that I can keep my job. Paycom is the only thing that matters. If I don’t slide off the road, I’ll call you when I get into the office. Also, I set out some Crustables on the counter.”
Fortunately, it does appear that Paycom does still have a very small, weakly beating Grinch heart, and – with the city and schools shut down and streets doubling as a speed skating track – the company relented at the last minute and did let employees work from home today.
Anyway, I guess we should end this unverified, but still probably highly accurate breakdown of the DOGE – I mean, CHOGE – taking place behind Paycom’s glowing green curtain on a semi-slippery happy note.
I wish I could tell you to check out some other local media outlet for more details, but apparently, we’re the only ones brave or dumb enough to cover the company. Well, at least when it doesn’t involve rewriting a press release.
If you’re a current or former Paycom employee and want to violate your EMPLOYEE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ASSIGNMENT, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER AGREEMENT, feel free to slide into the TLO Tipline.
Don’t worry, we won’t tell Chad.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
