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Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

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Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#191

Post by bastardoperator »

esel2k wrote: post #148
nsxwolf wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I got laid off, my severance was basically enough to buy a bus ticket to the unemployment office. What they're doing here is incredible. (Almost felt compelled to name names here but took a breath)

As a European the severance for a large company doesn’t sound all to different to what I am used to. Normally you have 3 months by contract plus some add a month per year tenure. Healthcare costs, career support etc is normal for larger/successful companies. Then certain countries (not the company) will pay 80percent of your salary for 2 years to find a new job. Happy that some companies also start to do this in the…

I worked with a person that was laid off with 6 months severance that was not reported to the state. They immediately filed for unemployment, and then the company hired them back as a contractor 4 or 5 weeks later. We labelled him the triple dipper and he said getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened to him and that he's basically rolling around in money coupled with a one month paid sabbatical.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#192

Post by ulfw »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #3

Stripe did seem to be somewhat overstaffed after the huge hiring spree in the last 2 years. Though the bottom 14% is a pretty big amount to cut, almost certainly some decent performers in that group.

It's impossible to cut 14% and making sure those are only bottom performers. You'd have to reorg the whole company if that were the case because some 8 person teams might have 1 bottom performer (and thus become 7), others might have 2 or 3 and thus become (5 or 6 people. They'd then want to add more people to be a big enough team again etc etc, so those would have to come from other teams that then get merged)

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#193

Post by ProAm »

eganist wrote: post #155
lefstathiou wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What more do you want? They are paying out millions in cash ("out of the goodness in their heart"... ie they don't have to and people shouldnt expect) which is directly reducing the value of the equity, which impacts them more than anyone else by a huge proportion. Handing out equity grants makes no little sense to me and is unlikely what these employees want... "hey you're fired, here's some stock at our latest valu…

I don't want anything; I have no intention of working for stripe. But in the face of fundraising headwinds, a decision to cut costs like this only improves (or stabilizes anyway) their ability to raise at a valuation closer to what they're looking for in this down market. The severance package here only deferred the benefit to the bottom line, but it wasn't a consequence for over-hiring and potentially disrupting liv…

> the layoffs actually benefit the founders directly, and it ends up becoming a perverse incentive to over-hire and lay off again with the next boom/bust. Successful accountability means people actually avoid doing shitty things.

This is exactly how business works. You should not be surprised. Their job is to ensure the company survives and that is really it. Everyone is expendable. None of these employees were guaranteed a long leisurely employment at Stripe.

Businesses change overnight. But it's always a cyclical market. As the founders I would expect them to benefit themselves. There doesn't have to be consequences, only change and adaptation. It's just business, they aren't your family.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#194

Post by Test0129 »

memish wrote: post #90
eganist wrote: post #47

Hey pc, if you're around: > John and I are fully responsible for the decisions leading up to it. What are the two of you doing to show accountability? Are you slashing your own future stock grants, cutting your own salaries, diluting your positions with stock grants to everyone else? What's the consequence for this decision on your end that shows you're accountable for what happened, not just responsible for it? Sinc…

That's in the email: Severance pay. We will pay 14 weeks of severance for all departing employees, and more for those with longer tenure. That is, those departing will be paid until at least February 21st 2023. Bonus. We will pay our 2022 annual bonus for all departing employees, regardless of their departure date. (It will be prorated for people hired in 2022.) PTO. We’ll pay for all unused PTO time (including in re…

That is a remarkably generous severance package. My COVID severance when my company's local office went under was 2 weeks pay for 8 years of service. Healthcare terminated at the end of the month and they were sure to lay me off in the middle of the last week of the month.

Well done stripe. Maybe others can follow your example.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#195

Post by shaftoe »

antihero wrote: post #177
imnotreallynew wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goodness, I’d voluntarily take that deal anyday. 3.5 months of paid vacation at the salaries Stripe pays? Yes please. I just read the rest. On top of 3.5 months pay, they get accelerated vesting, cash payment for healthcare benefits, all unused PTO paid, and more. That’s incredible.

Isn’t it mandatory to pay holiday accrued? Because it’s been, well, accrued…

No. It can say otherwise in your employee handbook.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#196

Post by seneca »

eganist wrote: post #155
lefstathiou wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What more do you want? They are paying out millions in cash ("out of the goodness in their heart"... ie they don't have to and people shouldnt expect) which is directly reducing the value of the equity, which impacts them more than anyone else by a huge proportion. Handing out equity grants makes no little sense to me and is unlikely what these employees want... "hey you're fired, here's some stock at our latest valu…

I don't want anything; I have no intention of working for stripe. But in the face of fundraising headwinds, a decision to cut costs like this only improves (or stabilizes anyway) their ability to raise at a valuation closer to what they're looking for in this down market. The severance package here only deferred the benefit to the bottom line, but it wasn't a consequence for over-hiring and potentially disrupting liv…

> The severance package here only deferred the benefit to the bottom line, but it wasn't a consequence for over-hiring and potentially disrupting lives. In other words, the layoffs actually benefit the founders directly...

This is all complete nonsense. They're handing out millions of dollars they have no obligation to pay. Unlike cheap talk on the internet, this actually costs them quite a lot. This is extremely generous.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#197

Post by zrail »

antihero wrote: post #177
imnotreallynew wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goodness, I’d voluntarily take that deal anyday. 3.5 months of paid vacation at the salaries Stripe pays? Yes please. I just read the rest. On top of 3.5 months pay, they get accelerated vesting, cash payment for healthcare benefits, all unused PTO paid, and more. That’s incredible.

Isn’t it mandatory to pay holiday accrued? Because it’s been, well, accrued…

That's true in less than half of US states.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#199

Post by tomnipotent »

TomBombadildoze wrote: post #176
czbond wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ya know.... Founders and CEO's are responsible every day. They created the business for people to have jobs, they have to deal with it when the business cannot support the jobs. When things in the macro economy change, sometimes the business can't operate at the same level it was before. People like to on CEO's & leaders in good times, but employees often forget that while the employee can just go get another job, th…

Please. Stripe is privately held so let's look at a market comp, SQ. SQ 2021 Revenue: $17B SQ 2021 cash and short term investments: $5.3B Stripe 2021 Revenue: $12B Similar businesses, operating in the same market, with the nearly the same number of employees (about 8000). Barring exceptional circumstances, we would expect their financial health to be roughly similar. You said it yourself: > the leaders have to... [de…

How can the share price of a private company be falling?

> They could afford to dip into cash

Why should they risk cash reserves with an uncertain future? So that they can layoff 30% later on if things get worse?

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#200

Post by [deleted] »

memish wrote: post #90
eganist wrote: post #47

Hey pc, if you're around: > John and I are fully responsible for the decisions leading up to it. What are the two of you doing to show accountability? Are you slashing your own future stock grants, cutting your own salaries, diluting your positions with stock grants to everyone else? What's the consequence for this decision on your end that shows you're accountable for what happened, not just responsible for it? Sinc…

That's in the email: Severance pay. We will pay 14 weeks of severance for all departing employees, and more for those with longer tenure. That is, those departing will be paid until at least February 21st 2023. Bonus. We will pay our 2022 annual bonus for all departing employees, regardless of their departure date. (It will be prorated for people hired in 2022.) PTO. We’ll pay for all unused PTO time (including in re…

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