Another example of this executive behavior previously discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1455750
The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
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Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
And that country is known for terrible working conditions. Let's very deliberately not do what China is doing.
They work that long to win . Do you want to win? Or do you want to lose? Business is fundamentally a competition.
Who's winning? The employee in an early grave, who sacrificed time with their family for a company, to whom they are replaceable? Or the company, if it's the company well them employee is still losing and ultimately that's the real result that matters.
Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it fascinating that your reference is from 1911... because there clearly haven’t been any laws enacted since then that would protect workers. The only potentially relevant statement you made (bathroom breaks at Amazon warehouses) is the uncited one. Also coincidentally illegal in every US state I’ve ever been employed in...
The example shows that the same words could have defended those unconscionable conditions from 1911, which were also legal at the time. Can you come up with a reason workers shouldn't fight back against RevolutApp's demands that wouldn't also apply to the horrible conditions in 1911?
I never said workers who didn’t like it shouldn’t. If you don’t like it you absolutely could and should.
If you reread my comment I specifically said that some people do like it at certain points in their lives. Let them decide if the job is for them...
Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
The example shows that the same words could have defended those unconscionable conditions from 1911, which were also legal at the time. Can you come up with a reason workers shouldn't fight back against RevolutApp's demands that wouldn't also apply to the horrible conditions in 1911?
I never said workers who didn’t like it shouldn’t. If you don’t like it you absolutely could and should. If you reread my comment I specifically said that some people do like it at certain points in their lives. Let them decide if the job is for them...
RevolutApp is small enough (for now) that working there might seem optional. But working is not optional, and if employers are able to impose conditions like these, they're all going to want to.
Would you feel the same way if a company with 100,000 employees made these demands? If hundreds of companies with millions of employees total did so?
Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#85It takes experience to know why this doesn't work and some CEOs / CTOs / PMs / etc get there faster than others.
I was involved with a company once (larger than this one) where something very similar this happened.
They threatened layoffs. What happened was that the team became immediately LESS productive. Effectively instant burnout. If not from the hours than from the loss of morale.
One of the biggest "mistakes" is they told everyone when the layoffs would happen so all the top performers had better jobs lined up for that next Monday. The really high performers phoned it in just enough to not be fired early and took their severance package when they were inevitably laid off.
Personally, I tried not to phone it in. But I actually lobbied to be laid off (there was a significant group of people that wanted to keep me). I built up my vacation time (in the US it becomes due to you as cash when you leave) and got a month severance on top of it plus a 20% raise. And I timed my start date for a week after getting laid off just to have some rest. I was a key player on the product team... the other key players left too and that entire product died a couple months later.
It takes a while for people to realize that workers will stretch or compress their work to meet the schedule. If you expect them to work weekends they will just do the same amount of work just over 7 days instead of 5. Conversely, some studies have shown a four day week has no negative effect on productivity.
Thinking to meet KPIs you throw more hours at it is a sign of a "leader" who hasn't figured that out yet. Maybe by their 5th startup they'll get it.
Edit: As an aside. I too have asked my team to work weekends occasionally (I'm a CTO not CEO but same premise). It always goes like this:
> I'm really sorry to have to do this but we really need you to put in some extra time on the weekend to meet the deadline next week. Pick a couple days next month to take off and we'll let you take them off without using your PTO. Thank you, I really appreciate it! As a company we'll try to make sure this doesn't happen very often.
Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#86RIP RevolutApp with such CEO leadership you are doomed to fail. Nikolay Storonsky - you will lose your best people and drive RevolutApp into the ground. EDIT: just read a wiki on Nikolay. It all makes sense - his dad is a high up in Putin's enterprise machine (Gazprom - russian gas related entity) = part of the corruption machine. Not surprised that the son has such morals and how he treats other people is probably c…
Their CFO seems to be sick of weekend 'work' too:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/01/revolut-cfo-peter-ohiggins...
Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#87Never ceases to amaze me how friggin lazy and entitled are the British when it comes to being told they need to work long hours. It’s a high growth startup. They are vesting you with stock. Hell yes you need to come in on weekends, bruv.
How about they hire... oh I don't know... people for their 'high growth'? That could help too, instead of everyone doing double hours (aka two jobs) and getting paid for one.
Just because you're a founder doesn't mean you're a slave owner. Those days are thankfully over in large parts of the world.
Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#88Related: Revolut and Monzo are still amazing products. After moving to the US they make it quite impossible to use revolut or monzo (it’s expensive as fuck to top up). I’ve looked into simple/varo/chime but they look pretty bad in comparison to Monzo, they are also reserved to Us citizens only so fuck people with a greencard. I have chase/capitalone/schwabe and their app are just stuck in the past. I really wish Monz…
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Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think I'm a walking charity? That's what an employment contract is for. If you want me to work on weekends, put that in the contract. I can then negotiate an appropriate wage. If it's not in the contract, get lost. Alternatively propose a new contract so we can re-negotiate my compensation. If we negotiated for 160 hours of my time / month, then that's what you're getting. And if you can't wrap your head aroun…
I employ 105 people in five countries. 30 in the UK. Feel free to renegotiate your contract when asked to work long hours whilst I contact my recruiter to replace you.
If my employer pulled such a palpable show of arrogance someday, you can bet I'd have quit before sundown.
I know it'll probably take you half a year to fill my position, while I'll happily be working somewhere else within the week.
Though from what I gleamed of your personality from your comments, it's likely you wouldn't have managed to get me on board in the first place.
Also did you ever consider that some of your employees/contractors may be running their own companies/business when they're not working at yours?
Do you really think they value your business above theirs?
And even if they don't, do you think they value your company above their family/friends/life?
Do you think your attitude even has a chance of inspiring different priorities? I highly doubt it.
Your company sounds like a terrible place to work.
Re: The CEO of RevolutApp on Slack: “Why Aren’t You Working on Weekends?”
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very clear would be "maybe a great cheque in 2-5yrs but it could be we'll fail and you'll lose your job and get nothing", wouldn't it? Apparently in USA ~50% survive year 5 of businesses. I see similar numbers for UK. eg https://www.researchgate.net/post/Most_Start-up_Businesses_F... for USA
Yes! And one way (not the only way) to increase your chances of survival is by working harder than normal to get to a product/revenue point where you can make it. Again, all I'm asking is if the startup is very clear about expectations going into the role is that ok? We have very low unemployment right now so it's not like skilled technology workers don't have a lot of choices. Is there any way to ethically create a…
Seems like access to capital is the primary reason for failure, so you working harder might make no difference.
>Again, all I'm asking is if the startup is very clear about expectations going into the role is that ok? //
Absolutely! The truth will set you free.