Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce • Hacker News Board

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#681

Post by jrockway » Wed, May 06, 2020, 3:53 AM UTC

projektfu wrote: post #334

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh, to be honest I get tired whenever I see the "Why did company XYZ need so many people, they're just a website!"-type comments. While it is definitely possible AirBnB was bloated, it's not hard for me to imagine at all what all these people did. AirBnB is a relatively high-touch business, so I imagine a huge number of those people were in customer support/customer relations, both for travelers and for property own…

It's a high-touch business but more and more that touch is someone to tell a traveler that the scammer that took their money gets to keep their money.

I would imagine that most AirBnB scams are in the other direction -- travellers defrauding property managers. If you are just a customer and you don't like the experience, you simply tell your credit card company that you aren't going to pay for it and the problem is solved on your end. Meanwhile, if you manage the property people can consume nights of service and end up not paying, and you're never getting that back.

I am sure there are horror stories where people didn't like their AirBnB, but I am also sure they didn't pay for that AirBnB.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#682

Post by bagacrap » Wed, May 06, 2020, 3:59 AM UTC

jdminhbg wrote: post #360

ialyos wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But most people are capped to how much they'll spend on leisure by their vacation time. So there probably isn't much headroom to be gained for people who are regular travellers post this pandemic.

Sure, but like vacation money, vacation time has also been curtailed. I'm currently not on a vacation I had previously planned and working instead, saving both time and money I would have otherwise spent.

I'm in the same boat. Dearly wish I could take a vacation but the state has banned short term rentals for some reason (hotels still open though). So when they let us out of house arrest I plan to get out of town asap.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#683

Post by Zhenya » Wed, May 06, 2020, 4:06 AM UTC

chapplap wrote: post #298

monktastic1 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monthly vesting in the first year?

Monthly at Google, quarterly at Facebook.

The vest frequency depends on the size of the grant.

Some grants (small) once a year Bigger - quarterly Large - monthly

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#684

Post by airstrike » Wed, May 06, 2020, 4:07 AM UTC

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #399

airstrike wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you not want optionality? Optionality always has carries an intrinsic positive value.

Which would you rather have: a $100 bill or the option to buy a $100 bill?

The RSU and the options aren't priced equally, though.

More like a $50 bill or the option to buy a $100 bill for $25

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#685

Post by manigandham » Wed, May 06, 2020, 4:15 AM UTC

jashmatthews wrote: post #671

manigandham wrote: post #616

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you measure "innovation in terms of GDP"? I certainly don't see trillion-dollar world-changing companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon coming from those regions. What small business could replicate the impact of Windows, or Gmail or the iPhone?

Like the car? Volkswagen is twice the size of Microsoft by revenue. I'm going with the OECD definition here: https://data.oecd.org/rd/gross-domestic-spending-on-r-d.htm

The car was invented in the 1800s, and has seen mature competitors in many other countries like Japan. In the current century, Tesla is the auto giant leaving behind all the legacy manufacturers while also branching into energy products.

Pivotal products are a better milestone than vague estimates of R&D spending.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#686

Post by agensaequivocum » Wed, May 06, 2020, 4:15 AM UTC

ryanbrunner wrote: post #568

agensaequivocum wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The USA is an aberration in this regard - even the workers seem to value the rights of the employers far above the rights of the employees. No one has a right to payment if they do not provide services.

If it's specified in their employment contract, they absolutely do. A severance package is really at the root of it just something laid out in an employment contract that says that absent cause, an employer needs to compensate the employee for terminating the contract. Clauses like that are super common in all kinds of contracts. The main difference, of course, is that in countries that require this sort of thing, it…

Yes I should have been more specific. If it is agreed to than yes the payment is due. But the government forcing it is unjust.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#687

Post by manigandham » Wed, May 06, 2020, 4:22 AM UTC

JohnTHaller wrote: post #643

ekianjo wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You own a factory. Your employees don't. There's a power imbalance in the employment relationship. You make it sound like employers are all fat rich people smoking cigars while everyone else is in a sweatshop. The reality is that 99% of businesses are very small in size (as in, one owner and very few employees) and it's often much more a partnership than the power imbalance you are talking about. Yet the same laws…

More Americans work for large employers than small or mid-sized ones.

Not by a big margin. Around 47% of the workforce is employed by small businesses.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#688

Post by unishark » Wed, May 06, 2020, 4:23 AM UTC

ryanbrunner wrote: post #568

agensaequivocum wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The USA is an aberration in this regard - even the workers seem to value the rights of the employers far above the rights of the employees. No one has a right to payment if they do not provide services.

If it's specified in their employment contract, they absolutely do. A severance package is really at the root of it just something laid out in an employment contract that says that absent cause, an employer needs to compensate the employee for terminating the contract. Clauses like that are super common in all kinds of contracts. The main difference, of course, is that in countries that require this sort of thing, it…

if you need to get the other party to sign a contract granting you a contractual right, doesn't that rather make the above poster's larger point though? Especially since that contract is the place where the salary and work are agreed upon. If I don't have a right to force you to work for me as a servant, then I need to get you to agree to do it willingly via some kind of contract.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#689

Post by acituan » Wed, May 06, 2020, 4:25 AM UTC

missedthecue wrote: post #437

rb808 wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a European, that isn't great. (options excepted). Usually I thought you get 14 weeks plus a month for every year of service, not a week.

But your pay would be $50k p.a. rather than $175k

But your healthcare would be very cheap, if not free, wouldn't be tied to your employment; education cost would be minuscule compared to US; kids would benefit from the first two factors too; minimum annual vacation would be 4 weeks, mandated by law.

Sticker price doesn't tell the whole story. I'm not saying that the total benefit is lower, but the cost of earning that $175k is definitely much higher than the cost of that $50k.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#690

Post by kevindong » Wed, May 06, 2020, 4:30 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #635

arcticbull wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A COBRA plan can be about ~$500-1000 for an individual in the US. A family can reach $2000-5000/month. Then, you are still sometimes left holding the bag for deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance and annual out-of-pocket maximums. Old but not way off: [1]. Some folks are better off on the private markets, especially exchanges. [1] https://www.bankrate.com/finance/insurance/cobra-health-insu...

> A COBRA plan can be about ~$500-1000 for an individual in the US. A A COBRA plan is just continuation of the same plan, at the same cost (except that the ex-employee now covers whatever part was paid by the employer), as you had when employed. > Some folks are better off on the private markets, especially exchanges. Rarely for an equivalent quality plan if they were in a large group plan, which are usually better t…

Anecdotally, my employer's group health plan costs ~$650/month for just me. A roughly equivalent plan on the NY exchange is ~$750~900/month (my insurer doesn't participate in the NY exchange and also my employer customized my health plan so there's no direct comparison either way). So there's definitely some savings present.