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Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola addressed Datto employees in a two-hour meeting filled with profanity. The meeting highlights a clash between the culture of Datto and its new owner.

Kaseya recently finalized the €5,7 billion acquisition of Datto. The acquisition raises concerns among Datto’s customers and employees. Many fear that the company’s culture and employee benefits will vanish. A recent in-person session at Datto’s US headquarters confirmed the concerns.

During the meeting, Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola lashed out at a former Datto leader and claimed that Kaseya chooses not to take a stance on any social issue, a position that threatens the existence of Datto employee resource groups intended to support marginalized populations. Voccola repeatedly insisted he was “not being a dick”.

The vocal Voccola

Voccola’s crude style was on full display, complete with highly colourful language. One Datto employee spoke to CRN, saying that some weeks ago, their job would have been the dream. After the town hall and a few days at Kaseya, the employee said that everyone on their team had applied for new jobs. Voccola, according to the employee, seems to be out of touch, preferring to be a showman instead of someone who cares about how things are handled.

Voccola responds

CRN contacted Voccola for a follow-up interview. During the conversation, the CEO shed light on the context of the meeting. “I’m the CEO of a company, I was expecting a lot of business questions”, he said. “Some of them got very unique and specific, which is fine. Instead of ducking the question, and being like, ‘I don’t know, talk to your HR leaders,’ I was trying to at least give as much as I could.”

Voccola proceeded to address some of the concerns. The CEO confirms that Datto employees face changes in their health insurance and benefits, but denies that Kaseya is destroying the company’s culture. “What we do with our health insurance, or our 401k matching, they are important to employees. No doubt. I don’t view that as culture”, he said. “I view that as how do we make sure our employees are compensated at the top end of the market.”

According to Voccola, Datto’s relationship with managed service providers (MSPs) — the company’s userbase — defines its culture. “We bought Datto for its culture, its brand, its people. Datto is awesome to MSPs. That’s the culture we bought.”

Voccola seems to mean well, but we don’t expect many Datto employees to agree with his definition of culture. That’s a clash in itself.