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Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

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Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#321

Post by mparkms »

randomdata wrote: post #284
tempsy wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if frantically interviewing for a new job during the holidays when lots of tech companies are also laying people off can be considered a vacation.

Maybe if you're the janitor, but based on the quip about the salaries Stripe pays, the parent is presumably looking at this from a developer's perspective. That's a payout of around $73,000. If you are handed $73,000 and still need to frantically look for a new job, something strange is going on.

You do if you're on a work visa and don't want to leave the US.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#322

Post by lowercased »

bluGill wrote: post #270
tempsy wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if frantically interviewing for a new job during the holidays when lots of tech companies are also laying people off can be considered a vacation.

There are lots of tech companies hiring too. The hard part is finding them, and convincing them you are the one. Most of the resumes I see for a "senior" programmer don't have the experience.

Yet... we still see ageism in hiring too. I'm continually surprised at people advertising for 'senior' positions that require 3 years of 'foo' experience. If that's how you label 'senior'... don't be surprised when people with little experience apply for senior positions.

Not poking at you directly. I've got 25 years of experience. I was on a team a few years ago with people with... 2-4 years experience. We were both labelled to the end client (contracting company) as 'senior developers'. It's just weird all around. When everyone is 'senior', it loses any useful meaning.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#323

Post by bigstripedrama »

thunkle wrote: post #298

I work for Stripe and got laid off this morning. Sucks because my manager was only told this morning, and didn't have a chance to talk about how well I was doing or take any part in the decision making. We'll at least I'll get a break. I worked nights and weekends all of October.

Sorry you're going through this and hope you don't have too much stress. I also echo the sentiment about needing a break, I wish I got laid off today. I'm not sure I can handle the Stripe culture that emerges from this.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#324

Post by remify »

joegahona wrote: post #151
bryant wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They know what accountability is. That's why they never use the word. Yeah we know you're responsible for it, but how are you being held accountable for it? No one will remember in two years time, but my hope is it'll factor into candidates' decisions around whether to pursue a career with Stripe. If I've got senior executives without accountability, it's a distraction to my ability to deliver the product as well as…

Do you have an example handy of a CEO who has provided acceptable accountability in a situation like this?

Patagonia has an interesting story about this.

After having to layoff a lot of their staff in the 90s, Chouinard decided to switch his compagny values and reason of being.

This article sums it up I guess, https://medium.com/@adamler/limiting-the-engines-of-growth-a...

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#325

Post by shagie »

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…

It varies based on state. https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/articles/pto-payout-l...

In California, accrued vacation is part of wages and must be paid out as part of wages. However, unlimited PTO policies typically don't accrue vacation.

In Washington, it's "read your contract." If your contract doesn't say that they pay out accrued PTO upon separation, they don't.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#326

Post by YPCrumble »

tasuki wrote: post #305
YPCrumble wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the thrust of the remark is to put some sort of public "shame" on companies that perform layoffs I don't think that's what he meant. He is asking whether the CEO is just blowing hot air when they say "we take full responsibility..." or whether there are consequences to their bad decisions, i.e., responsibility for those decisions.

I'm not a native speaker, but I think taking responsibility does not necessarily imply consequences. The opposite of taking responsibility is assigning blame (eg "our underlings hired too many people it was their mistake").

That's probably true, and likely why the commenter finds that a CEO "taking responsibility" is so obnoxious.

Either the CEO is implying that they aren't always responsible, which is bogus, or they are stating an obvious fact as an empty platitude, which is most likely the case, or perhaps they're implying that to them "responsibility" means more than just "taking the blame" which is probably not the case here.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#327

Post by time_to_smile »

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…

To parent's point: no actual consequences for the people making the decision despite the claims that they are "fully responsible".

"Feeling super bad about this" is not actually a consequence.

I worked at a company that had massive layoffs, leadership claimed it was the hardest day of their life, two weeks later they were literally laughing about the people they laid off when they realized they already had to rehire for some of the positions.

Saying "we take full responsible" here doesn't translate to accountability, it means they want to start the conversation by absolving themselves of any guilt.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#328

Post by hinkley »

lefstathiou wrote: post #134
eganist wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how they're supporting their employees, but this would've already been accounted for anyway (the vesting, potential bonuses, pay through Feb 2023, etc), so this isn't accountability so much as it's "we'll, we won't see the immediate benefit until March" Would've been a different story for instance if pc/jc were diluted with new grants to departing and existing employees.

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…

No, the shareholders and the board are paying that out. It’s still dodging the original question.

It’s something a lot of us are sensitized to these days because of all the narcissists who “take full responsibility” which seems to mean to them that taking the blame is a dire punishment and no other consequences are necessary.

Being the scapegoat is not a real consequence. Not getting that villa you were talking to an agent about is a consequence. Not getting your bonus at all is a consequence.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#329

Post by throwawaysleep »

It is far better to be a massive underperformer at three jobs than be a good employee at one. Layoffs that are large usually have nothing to do with performance as if they did, word would leak.

This is why I feel no guilt over letting my teams down repeatedly. It doesn't matter unless you are bad enough to fire.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#330

Post by break_the_bank »

In addition to normal things that suck about layoffs another thing I don't like about the layoffs from Lyft, Coinbase and Stripe is their equity policy. All of them went from fixing the 4 year grant on day one to a fixed yearly dollar value making the # of units you get every year variable. Obviously this only applied to ICs and not directors. Stock goes up you get fewer units, stock goes down you get more units. They said this is to help the employee during a downtime, but during downtimes they just end up laying people off.
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