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Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

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Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#361

Post by adamsmith143 »

nsxwolf wrote: post #130
memish wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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)

I find it interesting that they're saying they're doing so bad financially they need to cut 14% of their workforce but are also doing well enough they can pay 14% of their payroll for 3.5 months of no work + Bonuses + PTO + Stock + 6 Months of Healthcare? Doesn't seem to add up

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#362

Post by woodruffw »

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…

I have no horse in this race, but an observation: the extraordinary value of this severance package is not a response to the GP's question. They asked how Stripe's leadership is personally demonstrating accountability, not what the corporation is doing to soften the blow.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#363

Post by bombcar »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #297
alexpetralia wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue CEOs generally find it optimal to "overgrow" during boom periods and "cut" during bust periods. This is why we see the routinely observe the pattern. It is not because a bunch of confused CEOs are constantly making mistakes. This was expected, even planned for (if not explicitly). This is how startups work. Overgrow, then cut, then overgrow again. Layoffs, especially around moonshots or non-revenue-gene…

It's true but it would be nice if they were honest about it. It makes sense as a strategy because, if the bust doesn't come (or as soon as you think), then you'd much rather be in the position of having grown to take advantage of it than not.

It seems to me they are moderately open about it. "We expected things to keep growing, acted on that, it didn't, now acting on that."

I suppose they could say "we thought the economy might contract in 2022 as it would eventually, but that risk was more palatable than not growing and missing out vs our competitors if the contraction didn't happen."

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#364

Post by zjaffee »

nsxwolf wrote: post #130
memish wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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)

They're only paying this much severance because 90 percent of it is legally obligated by the state of California, where the vast majority of their employees work.

60 work days must be paid out, which is 12 weeks of work. So essentially they're giving people only an extra 2 weeks of severance to sign away their right to a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#365

Post by LudwigNagasena »

jtaft wrote: post #102
jesuscript wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 hard…

Many find the r word offensive. Can you please be kinder and express yourself differently? https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-is-the-r-word-3105651 Your post brings up interesting view points, thanks for sharing.

I am honestly amused by this. There are so many denigrating words that have their origin in or deep connotations with intellectual disability, yet somehow “r-word” is the one that gets all the attention. Though, I must admit I’ve seen people going even further and claiming that “crazy” is an ableist slur.

And I am not sure which is worse, being selective or being consistent but annoying.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#366

Post by ceres »

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…

> They could afford to dip into cash and keep everyone on board but their investors are more concerned about propping up the valuation

This an example of how bullshit jobs are created. Why keep people on a payroll if you have no use for them anymore?

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#367

Post by par »

tasuki wrote: post #316
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.

> I worked nights and weekends all of October. Sorry to hear that. Why were you working nights and weekends?

Probably because they were scared of losing their job and were being asked to work harder.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#368

Post by bombcar »

rexreed wrote: post #245

Stripe stresses me out. I really cringe worrying about having too many financial eggs in the Stripe basket. But Paypal is no alternative and traditional CC processors are awful. How does one hedge their bets with Stripe? I worry one day we'll hit some transaction "trigger" and then all our money will get locked up in Stripe with no customer support recourse. I fear being "too successful" with no recourse if I depend…

Integrate Apple Pay and Google Pay and/or whatever Samsung is doing these days.

Add PayPal, too.

Have established policies about draining the processor funds into accounts, and work with your bank on how to set these up properly.

There is really no reason to have a single payment provider these days.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#369

Post by endtime »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #349
AlwaysRock wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is far better to be a massive underperformer at three jobs than be a good employee at one Can you explain this? Do you mean working three jobs at once?

Yes. Find three remote jobs. It is what I do.

You contribute to anti-remote work sentiment by doing this.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#370

Post by tehwebguy »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #361
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)

I find it interesting that they're saying they're doing so bad financially they need to cut 14% of their workforce but are also doing well enough they can pay 14% of their payroll for 3.5 months of no work + Bonuses + PTO + Stock + 6 Months of Healthcare? Doesn't seem to add up

Morale for the remaining employees would drop and attrition would jump if they all watched their fellow employees get kicked to the curb by their current employer.
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