Why would they announce a hiring freeze and do this after two weeks instead of doing only one. As if one bad PR isn't enough. you need two!!
Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
281–290 of 616 posts
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
>You can definitely be paid laid off employee for a period of time, while having your access revoked. In France, this is a breach of contract as you are not providing your employees with the means to work, and you can be sued for it if it is not done as a disciplinary measure (which you can also be sued for if not done in good faith) EDIT: my dudes stop trying to link legifrance articles to me, I have literally been…
Doesn't seem correct "Upon termination of employment, the employer may release the employee from working during all or part of the notice period and pay him an indemnity in lieu of notice" https://knowledge.leglobal.org/restrictive-covenants-in-fran...
Indeed! And that is perfectly fine. The employer can dispense you from your préavis de licenciement, especially if it's a single person being fired. https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F24660
However, any firing must be notified of an entretien préalable de licenciement by letter (can be given directly). This is usually a week after, to grant the employee time to prepare (and to eventually be helped by employee representatives). Then, after this, the employer has to give at least 48 hours before doing anything. This gets even worse in the case of a massive layoff like Coinbase's for economical reasons, the company is obligated to have meetings with the employee representatives, at the very least twice spaced by 15 days. For a company the size of Coinbase, the CSE has 2-4 months to answer and can ask for proof that the company is, indeed in financial troubles, having them open their books. https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F24648
So, in practice, while quick firings are possible for individual cases, massive layoffs like that do not happen over a single day.
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#283Seems absurd that 18% can be laid off without an extended consultation period, proper notice, proper protocol of who should be laid off, etc. If any UK staff are affected, then I would talk to citizens' advice (or a solicitor if you can afford it) asap. Know your rights: https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/consultation You’re entitled to a consultation with your employer if you’re being made redundant. This inv…
You're right about consultation, but there's a sneaky trick to get around it.
Simply tell the affected people they've been selected for voluntary redundancy, which comes with a much more attractive severance package. If they don't volunteer, you then forcibly make them redundant -- with a less attractive package, they can then enter into consultancy if there are enough of then.
When this happened to me, 30% of the company was laid off, everyone took the "voluntary" package, no consultancy took place.
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#284Is there a single YC company which is doing good in public market? It seems like all YC companies are net loss making investment for the retail investors have they bought the stocks in IPO.
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#285> If you are affected, you will receive this notification in your personal email, because we made the decision to cut access to Coinbase systems for affected employees. I realize that removal of access will feel sudden and unexpected, and this is not the experience I wanted for you. Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information, it was unfortunately the only practical choice, to ensu…
Never heard this happen (Scandinavia) other than in the cases where an employee clearly breached laws or company policy. Standard procedure here is that you as a salaried employee will be guaranteed 1-2-3 months (depending on your contract) of notice. Edit with example: https://www.arbeidstilsynet.no/en/working-conditions/dismiss... > An employee may usually remain in the post as long as negotiations or legal proceed…
Being paid for 1-3 months is entirely independent of whether they want you in the office or not.
In Britain it's called gardening leave, and it's common in finance and other jobs with tight security. You are paid, but you stay and home and do some gardening. (Or, more likely, look for a new job.)
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
The main value proposition is to sell to the next person for more than you paid. Everything else about banking the unbanked or other vague goals about being better than fiat are to convince the next bag holder.
> The main value proposition is to sell to the next person for more than you paid. I agree. But I genuinely believe "bagholders" will be better off compared to saving in their own national currency - provided they manage their risk correctly. This is because national currencies keep inflating, so even a decreasing demand might maintain the same price, given the supply inflation difference. Since the pandemic, BTC has…
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#287Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is absolutely untrue. In Europe we work several days/weeks after the layoff notice. You can fire people from the night to the morning only in US
We may be mixing things up. You can definitely be paid laid off employee for a period of time, while having your access revoked. They're completely orthogonal. Depends on role, company, situation. It's an assessment and tradeoff - is it worth / do I need the next two weeks of work and KT from this person, vs the risk of having access. The notion of revoking security access to limit risk is definitely not a US thing.
He is not mixing things up. The idea that immediate revoking security access to everything is only way how to do things is definitely a US thing.
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
We may be mixing things up. You can definitely be paid laid off employee for a period of time, while having your access revoked. They're completely orthogonal. Depends on role, company, situation. It's an assessment and tradeoff - is it worth / do I need the next two weeks of work and KT from this person, vs the risk of having access. The notion of revoking security access to limit risk is definitely not a US thing.
In the UK you have to provide employees with a consultation period, which is typically done while the employee is still carrying out their day-to-day jobs (dependent on the reason for the redundancy). I believe it is similar in other EU companies. See here: https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/consultation Revoking access and not allowing users to complete their jobs would often be seen as a failure to consult (…
Consultation seems to be more like an explicitly defined way to fire an employee (they are entitled to learn why and what has been done to try to keep them). It does not look like it is prohibiting garden leave.
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately it's common enough. It's harsh, it's cold, but ultimately for companies it's a real necessity. The explanation is blunt and correct - even a single malicious actor can enact HUGE devastating harm. It doesn't have to be hot wallet / cold storage. Source code, business plans, revenue & profit statements, SSH to servers, physical access to datacentre, client contact lists, etc etc... there's a myriad thing…
> Friendly, smiley, fake. My father had to lay off a bunch of people in 2008. I am now a manager. He told me that if I am ever forced to do this to not ever do this crap to my team. Tell them that this is bullshit. Tell them that you are upset. Tell them that you haven't slept. Tell them that the are right to be mad, disappointed, and even to hate you for choosing their head to roll. Anything better than fake smiles…
There's a lot of advice on how to handle these situations and a lot of it is good, even when conflicting. It's all situational.
One thought though, for whatever little it may be worth:
>>For me, I think I'd just quit if I was told to lay off people on my team.
That has been my personal emotional reaction many a time. As I spend more time as a manager though, I try to force myself to look harder and harder at what will this course of action actually accomplish? And the self-righteous emotional me hates that the rational conclusion is: it'll only accomplish negative things, i.e now the team that remains has lost your support. Bluntly, it will not "send a message", it will not "change things", it will not "make them realize what they're doing / what they're losing". Literally the only thing it'll do majority of time is make things even crappier for those who remain :-/.
So I would put it in inverse: the hard thing in the moment is to NOT go with your emotional reaction, and consider truly how can you be of best benefit / support / help to the team. Basically, I would say most of the time one quits for personal reasons (whether positive "I can get more money there" or negative "I hate this place and everybody in it"), not for the benefit of others.
Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mass-scale layoffs it's almost guaranteed. When you're talking even a single percentage point of employees departing, it's more normal than you might expect. Some companies even do it after an employee submits notice on their end (paying through the end of the term but disabling access earlier than expected, or even immediately), though this is far less common.
You can keep saying it, but it doesn't make it more true or acceptable. Anyway, the current HN crowd has been disappointing lately, so time to take a break.
> You can keep saying it, but it doesn't make it more true or acceptable.
We agree on whether it's acceptable, but let's be honest, any roles I've held in the past (and all security jobs around the world, really) exist only because people have a surprising potential to be absolutely crappy.