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Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

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Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#381

Post by hinkley »

Situations like this are part of my thesis on scaling employees vertically.

People get into growth mode and overhire and then have to lay off when the bill comes due. Or permanent attrition which is also stressful.

Productivity improvement via expensive tools and training is easier to pull back from when you get to the end. It slows the headcount ramp, which resides the fishtailing at the end.

Plus I just feel far better when I can say that the team can produce more functionality per month today than six months ago. Teams that slowly grind to a halt are one of my personal Hells.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#382

Post by [deleted] »

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?

[deleted]

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#383

Post by peanuty1 »

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…

Square is another option.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#385

Post by mooreds »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #281
mooreds wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Layoffs are not an indication of failure. Not on those who get laid off, those that remain, or senior leadership. I appreciate the sentiment, but think it is hard to believe when you are in it. As someone who got laid off, it sure doesn't feel that way. I felt like a failure, and was angry. It took me about a year to get over it. I've also been part of the "go forward" group (to use the parlance of our times) and t…

Agreed! Sorry you had to go through that, both ways. It's super tough for those being laid off.

Thanks. I ended up writing about my experience, which helped.

https://letterstoanewdeveloper.com/2020/05/04/how-to-go-thro...

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#386

Post by mooreds »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #285
mooreds wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Layoffs are not an indication of failure. Not on those who get laid off, those that remain, or senior leadership. I appreciate the sentiment, but think it is hard to believe when you are in it. As someone who got laid off, it sure doesn't feel that way. I felt like a failure, and was angry. It took me about a year to get over it. I've also been part of the "go forward" group (to use the parlance of our times) and t…

On the other hand, I've survived several layoffs in my tenure in the industry, and for at least one of those was pissed off that I wasn't one of the laid off (would have gladly taken a paid vacation when I was burnt out on the job anyway)

Hahah, a while ago I was having dinner with some friends. One was at a company where there were layoffs happening and there was lots of speculation on the right way to get on the severance list.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#387

Post by whimsicalism »

jedberg wrote: post #378
jasmer wrote: post #202

This is the part I don't like. Stripe is a hugely successful company and they have no urgent material need to let people go. This is an optimization effort. I actually do believe that 'pruning' is a healthy thing for organizations, to enable them to be nimble and dynamic - however - obviously this comes at great social cost. The benefits of 'pruning' come at the cost of externalizing regular, creating real human chal…

The problem with that is that in some cases there's really nothing else someone can do. If they are a recruiter, and the company is no longer hiring, keeping that person around doesn't help anyone, including that person. Honestly the way Stripe is handling this seems pretty good. They are telling you now that you have until March to find a new job. They are essentially doing what you suggest, without making them come…

> keeping that person around doesn't help anyone, including that person.

Seems to me it obviously helps that person, but I generally don't understand corporate-speak so I might be missing something.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#388

Post by thundergolfer »

willio58 wrote: post #372
throwawaysleep wrote: post #329

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.

No amount of money would make the stress of 3 jobs worth it to me. To constantly be letting down people around me would be depressing, don't care if I'm making 500k/yr.

A single Stripe E3 role (senior eng) can pay over $500k/yr.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#389

Post by tschellenbach »

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…

You could have made billions on the stock market by accurately predicting this.

It's good to see leaderships take responsibility and change course in the best possible way. But the whole this is our fault, we should have seen this coming story is a bit nonsense. They are just being nice about the messy situation and taking responsibility even though its outside their control.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#390

Post by John23832 »

endtime wrote: post #369
throwawaysleep wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

That's not their fault. If they're doing the job well enough at all 3, they've satisfied the requirements for employment. Who cares what others think about their "remote sentiment"?
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