‘Heartless’ marketing firm led by Kamala Harris aide lays off 10% of staff after election wipeout

WASHINGTON — A large corporate marketing firm co-founded and led by Stephanie Cutter, a senior adviser to Kamala Harris’s failed presidential campaign, recently laid off 10% of its staff amid a steep revenue disruption following the Democrat’s loss, The Post has learned.

The nine-person layoff unleashed an outpouring of criticism about allegedly hypocritical treatment of employees by Precision Strategies, which is staffed by prominent Democrats and counts many of America’s top corporations and unions as clients.

“She was telling people that she lost a lot of business after the election. And she has also been telling people companies are being told by the [Trump] administration not to hire Democrats,” a source told The Post.

“I think some of it is saving face and the other part is she is not good. And she is very, very mean. I feel bad for her teams but she is truly a mean person and it is catching up with her,” added the source, who has not worked at the company.

Precision Strategies does branding and public affairs for such clients as Bank of America, Comcast, CVS, General Electric, Gilead, Humana, IBM and Microsoft.

Google and Goldman Sachs also have business relationships with the firm, which employs other former Democratic advisers at its offices in DC and Manhattan, including fellow Harris campaign adviser David Plouffe.

“I suspect Cutter will live up to her last name more than ever — because it’s only cuts coming for has-been businesses like hers that offer anything but ‘precision’,” a different Democratic insider said.

“That 10% cut will only grow as clients look for strategists who offer better advice that solves problems, wins the day and wins elections.”

Cutter’s defenders argue that she’s direct and demanding but not unkind and one said that she may have been commiserating with others about post-election business challenges when she commented on the impact of Donald Trump’s victory.

“To the extent anything was discussed, it’s the natural pause that happens after a change in administration,” one person pushed back. “There’s a natural pause after an election, and we just needed to get through that. And we have.”

‘A pretty bad campaign’

Cutter’s three-month stint as a top leader on Harris’ campaign, which ended up losing all seven swing states despite an attempt to subtly rebrand the then-vice president, preceded the current woes.

“Stephanie ran a pretty bad campaign for Harris,” the ex-employee said.

“Ever since the election loss, the agency has been suffering,” a different former employee said. “Her relevancy is in question and it’s hard to market the access that she once had. Clients come to these agencies because they have these connections.”

The extent to which Trump officials actually have leaned on companies not to work with Democrat-led agencies on marketing is unclear, though the president has taken action against law firms associated with his historical legal adversaries and tech titans have scrambled to cozy up to the new chief executive.

A sense of desperation descended on Precision employees in December.

“Before the holidays, they were telling every single person at Precision, however low-ranking, that they are responsible for bringing in new business,” an insider told The Post.

The company’s largest client, the Gates Foundation, ended a major project that is said to have paid more than $2 million a year, after signing on in 2021. That loss was set in motion before the election when the Microsoft founder’s charity released a request for proposals that signaled a looming change.

“Last summer they had told all of us that they felt confident they were going to be getting enough new clients to offset losing the Gates Foundation, but clearly they haven’t been able to get as many new clients as they needed,” a source said.

A Precision spokesman said that the company recently added a dozen new clients and on Friday paid out annual bonuses in an indication of continued financial health.

“Several major public affairs agencies have recently gone through workforce reductions and unfortunately we’re not immune to this broader industry trend so we made an adjustment based on our current needs to start the year,” the spokesman said.

“In just the first quarter, we’ve added more than a dozen new clients and continue to do industry-leading work.”

The spokesman added that “our business is not based on access, so who is in the White House matters very little to the work we do. . . . . In fact, Trump in the White House isn’t driving down our business, it has given us plenty of new opportunities to help our clients.”

‘Leadership hates the union’

Critics within the company say that a major point of internal tension — and alleged hypocrisy — has been over the creation in 2023 of a worker union, with Cutter scoffing at the need for collective bargaining by her subordinates.

“Leadership hates the union,” said a former employee, despite the company having union clients including the SEIU and SAG-AFTRA.

“They’re supposed to be this progressive agency, they rep unions, and yet they are constantly dismissive of their staff and defensive about everything.”

Another said: “When a bunch of junior employees formed a union, she talked openly at a staff party that they were all ungrateful because they were essentially just lucky to have jobs. And she resisted the union at every step. This despite representing unions.”

The company ultimately recognized the union formed under the Communication Workers of America.

A company spokesman denied that leadership currently has an unfavorable view of the union, saying: “That is not true, and I question the motivations of those saying it. Actions also speak louder than anonymous quotes, and Precision’s leadership voluntarily recognized the union and has been working in good faith negotiations since its inception.”

CWA didn’t respond to a request for comment.

One instance of alleged worker mistreatment was shared with The Post by two sources who described how an office manager at the New York location requested a scheduling accommodation as employees transitioned back to the office in late 2023 following COVID-19 work-from-home policies.

The worker, who was instructed to be in the office three days a week, has a nonverbal special needs child who needed supervision after school due to severe autism. She requested to come into the office five days a week and earlier than usual, to allow her to leave early to meet her then-7-year-old son as he returned home on the school bus.

“They told her no. It was heartless. So the child would wait, alone on a porch, until this employee got off work,” one source said. “It was so sad.”

A different source said that the child had to wait outside “in the cold” for weeks until a caretaker could be arranged.

The employee at one point mentioned going to the union about the issue and allegedly was told by a manager that “I don’t recommend that you do that and if you do that, you probably would get fired.”

The office manager was terminated months later.

A source said that Cutter was not involved in denying the accommodation and multiple sources said that there were more issues involved preceding the worker’s firing.

‘The Glare’

People who have worked with Cutter alternatively describe her as a brilliant and generous boss and one who frightens and intimidates her staff.

“She’s such a monster,” declared a former employee.

“Her [staff members] all talked about how, on Zoom calls, they would minimize her screen to avoid ‘the glare.’ It wouldn’t matter what you were talking about she would always have a scowl on her face. Like you were bothering her.”

Another recalled her “screaming” during a virtual meeting.

Although some supporters agree that the boss can be stern and demanding, they say she appreciates hard work and is not unfair, and has even in some instances bent over backwards to support her subordinates in their personal lives.

“She’s tough and holds people to high standards, but I’ve never found her to be unreasonable. I’m better at my job because of what I’ve learned here,” a current employee said.

Another current employee said Cutter “doesn’t suffer fools” and “is tough but not mean… she can give really blunt feedback but it is meant to help you grow.”

Adrienne Watson, a longtime Democratic spokesperson and Biden White House official, said that “I have never heard her be mean to anyone working for her. She always supported me and her feedback made my work look really good, while taking credit for nothing.”

“I have only ever heard her aim her firepower at people who are her equivalents and deserve a check!” Watson said.