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The layoffs at Klarna

blog.pragmaticengineer.com

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Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#281

Post by nvarsj »

curiousllama wrote: post #60
jedberg wrote: post #34

Wow, that sounds so poorly handled. Not figuring out a way to tell everyone affected at (nearly) the same time is probably the worst sin. Best layoff I ever went through was when my boss came to our team and said, "look, don't tell anyone, but we have a layoff coming in a few days. I have to let one of the three of you go. Do you want me to decide or do you want to decide amongst yourselves?". She knew we were good f…

> Best layoff I ever went through was when my boss came to our team and said, "look, don't tell anyone, but we have a layoff coming in a few days. I have to let one of the three of you go. Do you want me to decide or do you want to decide amongst yourselves?" Judging from your reaction, it sounds like yall had a great work environment, and that this was a good way to handle the layoff for your team. It sounds like it…

Maybe she had just watched The Hunger Games and was feeling inspired.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#282

Post by Buttons840 »

dan-robertson wrote: post #274
Buttons840 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the book Crucial Conversations, which tells us to avoid the "fool's choice" and be 100% honest and 100% respectful at the same time. The fool's choice is when a fool thinks something like "I can either tell the truth and be fired, or keep my mouth shut". The book teaches that with some thought you can find a way to tell the truth without being fired, etc. This is advice for an individual, but not an entire org…

Part of me is imagining ‘tell the truth and not be fired’ to involve some kind of Yes Minister strategy like the Rhodesia solution. But more realistically, most modern tech companies are going to want to not fire people for telling the truth or more generally speaking their minds, and individuals can often have a bigger impact than they would imagine. It doesn’t really make sense for a reasonably well run company to…

> most modern tech companies are going to want to not fire people for telling the truth

I agree. I gave that as an extreme example of "the fool's choice". More realistic examples include "I can tell the scrum master he talks to much in retrospectives and he will dislike me, or I can be quiet about it". Truth is you can probably find a good time and way to tell him that will not hurt his opinion of you.

As for raising safety concerns at Boeing (for example), maybe that's not a "fool's choice", but simply a choice. Are you going to do the right thing or not? Sometimes the "if I speak up, bad things will happen" mindset is the unfortunate truth, but not as often as many think.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#283

Post by tomduncalf »

SahAssar wrote: post #271
samcrawford wrote: post #179

The same author has been reporting diligently on Pollen, and has said he will do a write-up on the collapse there. I will be very interested to read that.

Got some links? A quick search of the blog turned up nothing besides a quick mention here: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/pragmatic-engineer-test/

It was on his Twitter AFAIK, for some reason Twitter search wouldn’t find it but here is the thread! https://mobile.twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1557841469674...

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#284

Post by esel2k »

rconti wrote: post #47

> Garden leave is when an employer requests that an employee, upon submitting their notice, need not return to the office. This is a type of absence where an employee is asked not to work during their notice period, in anticipation of their departure, while still being kept on the payroll. https://www.personio.com/hr-lexicon/garden-leave-uk/

Isn’t garden leave agreeing that you won’t work for the competition? Or is it even saying not working at all, not even in an unrelated job?

If I had a job the next day I might just enjoy two salaries. Would this be blocked by a garden leave agreement?

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#285

Post by [deleted] »

treis wrote: post #87
lumost wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For transaction processing, wouldn't a 1-3% margin be about the maximum achievable? That would translate to about 15 million dollars in potential profit against a 730 million loss.

1-3% of the transaction volume. That percentage is the 1.4 billion Klarna takes as revenue. The margins of that can be very high.

[deleted]

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#286

Post by rnd33 »

mongol wrote: post #164
rsanek wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like the article is saying that the fact that there isn't a union is actually a big help in the ability to do this kind of lay-off. > Swedish companies must negotiate with unions before layoffs. However, this was not the case at Klarna, nor is it the case at most Swedish tech companies. Klarna does not have a collective bargaining agreement (called “kollektivavtal” in Swedish) in place. This means that Klarn…

I never heard this before. I thought unions were always involved, regardless of kollektivavtal or not. Would like to hear from a Swedish expert on this.

Yes, if unions exist at the company (which they did at Klarna), a company is required by law to negotiate with ALL employee organisations present at the company. This is one of the reasons large companies adopt kollektivavtal, it allows them to only have to negotiate with one union for employment changes.

Source (Swedish law): https://lagen.nu/1976:580#P13S2

Google translated:

> If the employer is not bound by any collective agreement at all, the employer is obliged to negotiate in accordance with § 11 with all relevant employee organizations in matters relating to dismissal due to a lack of work [...]

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#287

Post by scrollaway »

blantonl wrote: post #252
elvis10ten wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did we (as an industry) go with “eat your dog food” instead of just “eat your own food”? I find the former disgusting each time I hear it.

I think this term started in the enterprise software space, and was probably coined because subconsciously, enterprise software sales and management people realized that their products were on par with dog food - ground up mystery stuff that is just barely edible except for animals that will practically eat anything. But package it up in nice marketing and sales efforts, and away we go! This is coming from someone wh…

Why make something up when the answer is a google search away?

https://www.centercode.com/blog/dogfooding-101

The sibling comment got it right, it started with a dog food company. Which makes more sense than a company deciding their product is shit, no?

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#288

Post by dilyevsky »

lumost wrote: post #67
Areading314 wrote: post #3

Klarna generated $1.42 billion revenue in 2021, a 32 percent year-on-year increase. A majority of Klarna’s income comes from interchange, processing and merchant fees. As Klarna has expanded its BNPL offering, its losses have increased. It reported a net loss of $730 million in 2021, a 337 percent increase on its 2020 loss. I would say its surprising that this company is still in business at all with numbers like thi…

For transaction processing, wouldn't a 1-3% margin be about the maximum achievable? That would translate to about 15 million dollars in potential profit against a 730 million loss.

Per https://www.klarna.com/international/regulatory-news/klarna-... their volume was $80B last year, 1.4B was their cut (1-3%) aka revenue, and the profit would depend on bunch of things such as their marketing/sales spend, wages, debt servicing, etc and most likely has been negative.

Edit: not "most likely" - apparently they lost to the tune of $700M

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#289

Post by apurtbapurt »

geysersam wrote: post #206
hotpotamus wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually worked providing infrastructure to tech companies; from large enterprises to startups. I think I realized starting in the early to mid 10's that all the startups I was working with were just about taking VC money to provide the founders with hip, well paying jobs - the stated goal of the company was mostly immaterial and the "change the world" talk was virtue signaling to the rank and file so they don't fe…

> what about that is all that revolutionary? Exactly. I've seen a lot of media coverage on Klarna (I'm Swedish), often with the angle "wow, innovation". The question I've too often wished journalist had asked is "Why?", what's the benefit of what you do? Except being more shiny. Lot of waste in the tech sector. Sad how many skilled people work endlessly on more effective ways of pushing ads and loans, to make us desi…

Revolutionary is of course an extreme stretch, but they do add unique convenience to the checkout process.

No user account creation, no entering of address and credit card number. Just click purchase and confirm with BankID. I also like that they retain neatly organized purchase history across all vendors, including permanent storage of the product images.

I prefer klarna so much, that I occassionally simply go to another etailer if there is no Klarna checkout option in the first place I try to buy something.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#290

Post by rubyist5eva »

djmips wrote: post #88
rubyist5eva wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The self congratulatory back-patting (even if it's just "everything is fine, we're doing great") is treating success like an achievement. Success requires vigilance. Excellence is not an achievement, it's an activity. I used to wonder why friends of mine would get gifts for things like graduating elementary school or even high school. I asked my father for something because I was graduating highschool on the honour…

I feel sorry for you that your father never got you that gift for graduating high school. My father got me an HP calculator and it's still one of my treasured possessions. It has had no negative impact on my success.

My father has gotten me plenty of gifts, for a variety of reasons and sometimes for no reason at all. Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad very much and he is a very generous man :)
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