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Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

wired.co.uk

81–90 of 157 posts

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#81
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

• 10+ years as an engineer • Minimum GPA 3.5/4 (US), 60% (UK), 8/10 in any other country "So we know you've been out of school for 10 years, but can you send us a copy of your report cards?"

> 60% (UK) 60% of what ? I have a Cambridge degree with no percentage on it (II/1), and some A-level results with letters.

A lot of universitites translate the overall exam percentage achieved to a 1:1, 2:1, 2:2, etc. For instance, achieving an average of 70% or more is considered a 1:1 in a lot of universities. I think it depends on the course too. I don't know if it's standardised.

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#82
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the employees are foreigners who are probably unfamiliar with the polish legal system, with no income or health insurance as more pressing issues.

> It sounds like the employees are foreigners who are probably unfamiliar with the polish legal system I would be a little surprised if this was true. One of the big reasons for Western European companies to hire in Poland is because Eastern European countries are very cheap. For most Western European companies, Polish people _are_ the foreigners (along with all the unfair preconceptions and prejudices that comes wit…

Just like many Polish people work in say England or Sweden, Ukrainians work in Poland. Exactly the same dynamic.

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#83
post #36

I dont understand how these new startup banks can stay in business. Previously banks could make money on the deposits in check accounts, now with negative rates they can only lose. Even big European banks are slowly dying.

There are still many ways for banks to make money, and challenger banks are betting on the fact they can do it with less overhead. Big European banks have started closing down branches and laying off staff, while they were pumping VC money to scale across several countries/continents and acquire a customer base among socio-demographics with high potential (mostly young, tech-savvy, traveling, reasonably good with mon…

> There are still many ways for banks to make money

Can you name one?

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#84
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the employees are foreigners who are probably unfamiliar with the polish legal system, with no income or health insurance as more pressing issues.

> It sounds like the employees are foreigners who are probably unfamiliar with the polish legal system I would be a little surprised if this was true. One of the big reasons for Western European companies to hire in Poland is because Eastern European countries are very cheap. For most Western European companies, Polish people _are_ the foreigners (along with all the unfair preconceptions and prejudices that comes wit…

Did you read the article? It specifically mentions that the Polish office has workers from India, Chile and Italy

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#85
post #14

Revolut is really scary organization... used them for a year or so, and then one day locked my account... harassed me for 6 months, asking for all sorts of documents, which I provided them. then one day, they closed my account, and sent back 2K balance to random people who sent me money in the past. When contacted them via twitter, the blocked my the same day :)

I also had bad experiences with Revolut including a completely unresponsive customer support. More importantly, what alternatives are available? Ideally: - has an API - reasonably priced or free - works in EU

I've been using Transferwise for quite a while, never had any issues with them. The transfers are quick, fees are low, exchange rates are fair.

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#86
post #41

“Primarily, it starts with their CEO Nikolay [Storonsky] being very vocal about their mentality, that if you do a 9-5 [workday] it won't work out...everything he has said is a recipe for burnout” says Stevie Buckley, co-founder of Honest Work and HR advisor to dozens of startups. https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/3/18248826/revolut-workplace... https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-...

Never trust a founder who claims that extraordinary work effort is the key; they stand to reap the rewards while the costs accumulate downwards. You have to have significant equity (not options) before the risk/reward works out in your favor.

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#87
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I knew they were a little farfetched when I saw their head of engineering job spec https://web.archive.org/web/20200406205828/https://jobs.leve... > School/university Olympic medal in competitions in physics, maths or programming :/

Important to note that having a medal was just one of several options. Other options included working at a large tech company, or having a STEM degree from one of 15 universities in the US/top 5 in the UK. It is an "or", not an "and", the requirements seem strange but not unrealistic.

the requirements seem strange "and" like they were written by a psychopath.

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#88
post #20
post #14

Revolut is really scary organization... used them for a year or so, and then one day locked my account... harassed me for 6 months, asking for all sorts of documents, which I provided them. then one day, they closed my account, and sent back 2K balance to random people who sent me money in the past. When contacted them via twitter, the blocked my the same day :)

Yeah I knew they were a little farfetched when I saw their head of engineering job spec https://web.archive.org/web/20200406205828/https://jobs.leve... > School/university Olympic medal in competitions in physics, maths or programming :/

This is actually hilarious to read. Part of me thinks that this is all part of a sick joke/experiment to see how willing are people to apply.

If my perspective employer showed me a requirement list like that, I would honestly just show them the finger and make fun of them.

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#89
post #66

Being from the US it wasn't immediately clear to me why they would do this. Found the relevant part of the article: > In Poland, workers say they were told by their line managers and HR that they were underperforming and would be terminated if they didn’t leave voluntarily. But in Portugal mutual agreements stated that dismissals were a result of a reduction of 40 per cent in the group’s activity and a 30 per cent ex…

In the US it isn't immediately obvious why it would work, either. As a worker you're much better off being laid off than quitting. "Firing" when it is pretty flagrantly just a mass lay-off shouldn't impact future hiring.

I've seen a lot of hiring managers miss out on great candidates because they assume that someone laid off probably wasn't a top performer ("if they were, the company would have found a way to keep them"). Of course, reality is great people do get laid off when companies draw really broad lines like "everyone hired within the past year" or "the entire division of X". Or sometimes it's just being on the wrong side of your manager, director, or whoever is making the decision. Hell, sometimes it's "all the people who we felt were at risk of leaving in the next few months anyway".

But the other reason companies in the US do this is to shield against liability. If you are terminated, you could later claim wrongful termination. While if you resign, it's much harder.

Re: Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired

#90
post #36

I dont understand how these new startup banks can stay in business. Previously banks could make money on the deposits in check accounts, now with negative rates they can only lose. Even big European banks are slowly dying.

You would be amazed at how much money a bank can make on card interchange (the fee they earn on every card transaction you make). Also most central banks don’t have negative base rates, so some money can still be earned from deposit interest. But COVID has of course slashed that revenue stream.

> You would be amazed at how much money a bank can make on card interchange

Not in Europe. Do you have any links?

> Also most central banks don’t have negative base rates,

OK not negative, just zero Eurozone is 0%, UK is 0.1%, Scandies are zero or 0.05% https://www.global-rates.com/interest-rates/central-banks/ce...

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