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Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

blog.patreon.com

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Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#131

Post by db579 »

ajkjk wrote: post #120
NoFactualActual wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He's taking responsibility...and taking corrective action for the long term health and viability of the business. Maybe this is just a language thing, but in my world "taking responsibility" involves some action to personally shoulder the pain of the layoffs beyond saying "my bad". I'd expect it'd at least begin with resignation in this case. Just like you can't just announce "I declare bankruptcy" to shrug off deb…

The post includes tons of details about complicated things Patreon is doing to help out the people affected. Do those count for nothing to you? It feels like you are insisting not on "support" or "generosity" but on "sacrifice".

Those are things the company is doing to take responsibility, not him personally which is what his statement should imply.

Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#133

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

fckgw wrote: post #130
unity1001 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say there's 3 months of pay, healthcare, mental care until the end of the year too. And they contracted a placement company to hook people up with new jobs.

Some of this is because of the WARN Act in California [0], which requires 60-day notice before any mass layoff. Employers can also fulfill the requirements of this mandate by letting employees go now but having their actual termination date 60+ days in advance. I've been survived a few layoffs that work this way. Good for Patreon to go beyond the 60-day mandated period though [0] https://edd.ca.gov/en/Jobs_and_Traini…

> I've been survived a few layoffs that work this way.

How many times have you been laid off?!

Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#134

Post by Minor49er »

gtfoutttt wrote: post #79
throwaway1777 wrote: post #35

Feel like the real story is a bunch of competitors are eating their lunch.

Who are those competitors? The subject company is tho only one I know of like this. But I am not really active in the creative space so I'm ignorant.

Gumroad is becoming a big one

Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#135

Post by api »

phamilton4 wrote: post #74
Lanz wrote: post #36

It'd be good to see Patreon face some more serious competition. They are by far the dominant force in their segment.

Not being in the know, what are the serious competitors to Patreon? Utreon? Buy Me a Coffee? Youtube itself?

Apple and Spotify doing podcast subscriptions maybe?

Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#136

Post by jnwatson »

mathgeek wrote: post #103
Shindi wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is pure negativity and not true. Hiring might slow down because of seasonality overall, but I was hired the last two times end of year. It's a great time to get new employees ramped up when things are slower. A polite reminder that some companies are growing really fast and are even struggling with hiring.

Just wanted to throw in my $0.02 here as well. I've been hired in November/December twice in my career without issue.

Likewise. I didn’t even know it was a slow period.

Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#137

Post by ajkjk »

db579 wrote: post #131
ajkjk wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The post includes tons of details about complicated things Patreon is doing to help out the people affected. Do those count for nothing to you? It feels like you are insisting not on "support" or "generosity" but on "sacrifice".

Those are things the company is doing to take responsibility, not him personally which is what his statement should imply.

I tend to think that non-profit-maximizing actions of a company are almost entirely due to top-down leadership, so I would give him credit for those actions.

Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#138

Post by Havoc »

Well, that seems pretty OK for a layoff mail.

Bit confused by reducing staff spend while increasing spending on engineering & product. Surely for a software company those are roughly the same thing?

Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#139

Post by cafed00d »

unity1001 wrote: post #89
toomuchtodo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Decency demonstrated, and hopefully recognized at large regardless of the criticisms of the business strategy and execution.

I agree. Tech companies should never really break off with former employees. Any former employee is a future potential employee that you can re-recruit when the time comes. Also, talent is difficult to find. Which makes people the center. Whatever you build, you will build it with people. So you need people. Be them new employees, be them former employees.

> Any former employee is a future potential employee that you can re-recruit when the time comes

Not only that, all former employees are de-facto "background check references" / "evagenlists" / "detractors" of your company. Forever! (well, not exactly forever... but close enough)

I can't recall a single year over the last 10 years where younger engineers, cousins, nephews or friends have asked me about the 2 companies I worked at before.

And boy, have I been candid.

Talked a very good friend of mine from joining Amazon for an offer he got making nearly 3 times much I did. All because of "decency" (or lack thereof) of a company.

Re: Patreon Lays off 17% of Staff

#140

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

unity1001 wrote: post #89
toomuchtodo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Decency demonstrated, and hopefully recognized at large regardless of the criticisms of the business strategy and execution.

I agree. Tech companies should never really break off with former employees. Any former employee is a future potential employee that you can re-recruit when the time comes. Also, talent is difficult to find. Which makes people the center. Whatever you build, you will build it with people. So you need people. Be them new employees, be them former employees.

Even more importantly, they are evangelists for other future employees.

I actually went out of my way to make it easy for my employees to quit. If they didn't want to stay, then I sincerely wished them well.

The company limited what I could do, but I did my best, and it seemed to work out.

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