14% seems like a very high number to me to axe at once, how have you got 1 in 7 employees that your business doesn't need to function when it is growing.
Money was cheap to borrow and get from investors and now it isn’t.
Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
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Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
#32“On Tuesday we set a new record for total daily transaction volume processed.” How does a company breaking records 36 hours ago conclude they need to lay off 14% of the workforce? Even with economic storm clouds on the horizon that seems very jumpy.
They set a new record of x% YoY.
They hired expecting that records to be 114% of x%.
Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
High performers on redundant teams would almost certainly be transferred, assuming there isn't some odd middle management infighting going on.
I'd hope so, but it's a lot harder to identify the high performers, figure out where to transfer them to, cut low performers from the teams they're moving to, etc. Unfortunately much easier to just cut teams as the company cuts scope.
Identifying high performers can be subjective, just look at Google's promotion practices. Productive engineers also tend to get paid more, making them an attractive target when reducing payroll spend.
Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
#34“On Tuesday we set a new record for total daily transaction volume processed.” How does a company breaking records 36 hours ago conclude they need to lay off 14% of the workforce? Even with economic storm clouds on the horizon that seems very jumpy.
"Breaking records" is just how normal people think about "growth". If they weren't constantly breaking records, we would already call them failing or dying because it means they're stagnating. To be considered successful they need to not only grow but the rate at which they grow needs to increase over time or at least not decline.
Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
#35I mean it’s a pretty damn generous package. Hell, I’ll take it and chill for a month or two before jumping into another job.
I’d love to get laid off with a quarter+ of a year paid for.
Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
#36I feel bad for employees that have waited a decade to cash out.
No reason why Stripe couldn’t have gone public in 2020-2021 at a huge valuation but from past interviews it sounds like the decision to remain private was just a founder preference thing because “focus” or something. Now the IPO market is completely frozen and its valuation is likely cut in half from peak, at least.
Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
#3714% seems like a very high number to me to axe at once, how have you got 1 in 7 employees that your business doesn't need to function when it is growing.
They are rolling back to February 2022 levels, after having grown a lot in 2020 and 2021.
If this is the only cut (big if), then I imagine that most areas outside of HR will not feel much different.
Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
#38“On Tuesday we set a new record for total daily transaction volume processed.” How does a company breaking records 36 hours ago conclude they need to lay off 14% of the workforce? Even with economic storm clouds on the horizon that seems very jumpy.
They are doing what any company does whether the slow down in the economy impacts them or not. They lie and say it impacts them and use it to do a purge.
I worked at companies that were in no way impacted by the 2008 financial crisis (in fact, business was booming). Leadership managed to use it as an excuse to do a hiring freeze and plead with existing employees that they are the lucky ones and they need to work harder during “this difficult time”. Facebook and Google just turned to that page recently in the “ruthless business playbook: version 1 (it never needed to be updated since the dawn of time)”.
It’s kind of psych 101 stuff. Never underestimate the true nature of business: Amorality.
There is some genuine bullshit going on now days because we have record low unemployment and open job positions. If they say it’s all in the service and labor sectors, well, that just means you gave more people an opportunity to earn money. Those people will then go online and spend it, so how the fuck would Stripe get less business? Unless Stripe is genuinely retarded, in which case I wouldn’t blame the 14% layed off, I’d look to replace leadership. But you see, Stripe isn’t retarded.
Be ready for your company that’s in some booming industry to use the recession and inflation as an excuse.
Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
#39Dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33450152
Unlike that, this is a stripe.com post.