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Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

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Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#21

Post by [deleted] »

ethbr0 wrote: post #15
vsskanth wrote: post #9

There was a very recent case where an emergency trauma center had to shut down because all the nurses left for another hospital for better working conditions. It’s also common in rehab centers. You can’t take Medicare patients without a minimum staff count. If too many nurses leave, patients can’t be accepted and you end up bleeding. Basically any job that primarily requires human capital.

That's a lot of hospitals in the US and Canada right now. Turns out if you cut nurses' compensation and retirement match during the pandemic, ask them to work overtime due to understaffing, and then don't restore benefits or give them raises to match inflation after... they walk. Who knew?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#22

Post by thrill »

A company I was hired into during a big hiring spree to prepare it for going public wasn't very generous to the systems engineering team once the IPO happened (but hoo boy, those sales guys were racking up some money). Anyway, of the roughly two dozen SE and DB team, I know of only single person remaining a mere three years later (he's simply paid too well to desire to leave). Said company's stock price is less than one-tenth of what it was when we all started leaving, in my case because someone doubled my salary to do so, but for others it was similar good incentives versus nothing but more excess work if we'd remained.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a competitor buy them just to acquire their customer base and acqui-fire the current team.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#24

Post by ipaddr »

ethbr0 wrote: post #15
vsskanth wrote: post #9

There was a very recent case where an emergency trauma center had to shut down because all the nurses left for another hospital for better working conditions. It’s also common in rehab centers. You can’t take Medicare patients without a minimum staff count. If too many nurses leave, patients can’t be accepted and you end up bleeding. Basically any job that primarily requires human capital.

That's a lot of hospitals in the US and Canada right now. Turns out if you cut nurses' compensation and retirement match during the pandemic, ask them to work overtime due to understaffing, and then don't restore benefits or give them raises to match inflation after... they walk. Who knew?

Or fire nurses and/or pressure them to quit for not being upto date on 3 or 4 vaccines. Think of how many hospitals would have stayed open in Canada without the vaccine cull.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#25

Post by zomgbbq »

Atari in 1983 went from the leader in video game production to completely imploding. In 1979, four of their best programmers left after demanding equity in the sales and were refused. Their CEO Ray Kassar famously said, "You’re no more important to those projects than the person on the assembly line who put them together. You’re a dime a dozen. You’re not unique. Anybody can do ­a ­cartridge.". They left and formed Activision which led to a sequence of failures by Atari until they finally died unable to compete with the likes of Intellivision, Colecovision, and Commodore.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#26

Post by mud_dauber »

hollywood_court wrote: post #17
ethbr0 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a lot of hospitals in the US and Canada right now. Turns out if you cut nurses' compensation and retirement match during the pandemic, ask them to work overtime due to understaffing, and then don't restore benefits or give them raises to match inflation after... they walk. Who knew?

I could not imagine being a nurse or a teacher in the US right now. I wish they realized that they have the leverage and can go on strike. I imagine that's difficult for many of them as they most certainly need the income. A rock and a hard place. I always smile when I read about a nurse or teacher switching to a completely different career field and finding themselves more content.

My wife (ER/ICU nursing) walked away from a 25 yr career. She ended up in the kitchen of an upscale grocery store - still working with her hands for 1/3 the salary. (Granted, we could withstand the financial hit.)

She would still come home bone-tired after being on her feet for a shift - but much more interested in the work. Not having to deal with the public was another big benefit -the epidemic turned too many people into **holes.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#27

Post by buggythebug »

triyambakam wrote: post #20
MikeF_323 wrote: post #3

Borland. I worked there up until the mid 90s and then was recruited by Microsoft. They picked off all the great talent leaving barely any competent engineers left. I alongside a ton of other engineers were wined and dined and given a hell of an offer we couldn't refuse. It was insane, I should write a book honestly. I miss those days, it was the wild west of tech.

I think that's how Anders Hejlsberg (creator of C# and Typescript) joined Microsoft?

You know someone works in programming if their name is Anders or Tobias

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#28

Post by CamperBob2 »

ipaddr wrote: post #24
ethbr0 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a lot of hospitals in the US and Canada right now. Turns out if you cut nurses' compensation and retirement match during the pandemic, ask them to work overtime due to understaffing, and then don't restore benefits or give them raises to match inflation after... they walk. Who knew?

Or fire nurses and/or pressure them to quit for not being upto date on 3 or 4 vaccines. Think of how many hospitals would have stayed open in Canada without the vaccine cull.

Good riddance. I don't want antivax nutcases on my healthcare team. They picked the wrong profession.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#29

Post by heavyset_go »

Seen this happen with some small businesses.

Irresponsible owners overleveraged themselves into situations where folding or bankruptcy were the only options once they couldn't afford their liabilities. There are a lot of companies that go under if for some reason their revenues dip for a long enough time.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#30

Post by n0tth3dro1ds »

klyrs wrote: post #7
aninteger wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious if non-competes were a thing at this period of time. I'm not sure if something like this could happen today (although I'm sure it still happens).

Noncompetes are pretty toothless, even illegal in several jurisdictions. Even then, a company with money and clout to poach talent like that can also stand up for you if your failing ex-employer chooses to lash out.

>Noncompetes are pretty toothless

Not true. They’re illegal in California, but in other US states where they are legal they can be quite toothful. I have seen several ex-employees of my prior company get sued and lose.

It became a silent doctrine to just leave a two year gap on your public LinkedIn after working there. If you put anything in that period (the length of the non-compete), you were at risk of the CTO suing you for fun if he thought any of the scope your prior work overlapped with your new role. Fun stuff.

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