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Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

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Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#601

Post by anyfoo »

mik3y wrote: post #469
TorKlingberg wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sucks because my manager was only told this morning As a manager I find their really curious. I guess they were trying to avoid leaks. I wonder how they chose who to lay off. Most recent performance rating? Next level managers impression?

Yes, it's normal for layoffs to be planned and executed by a very small group, typically to avoid leaks or creating hysteria ahead of decisions being finalized. This in turn means less-than-perfect information is available, and so less-than-scientific cuts are made. "Ideally", your layoff strategy dictates some cuts regardless of performance: Say we're shutting down the self-driving car division, folding up recruitin…

> Say we're shutting down the self-driving car division, folding up recruiting, or choosing to accept the risk that comes with getting rid of the whole security team.

Did you intend this to be a spit take? The sentence read about the same as “Say you’re taking a stroll around town, visit a few cafés, or decide to end the day by jumping into an active volcano.”

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#602

Post by SoftTalker »

mengibar10 wrote: post #560
radu_floricica wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offence, but they're not putting anybody in the electric chair. They're letting people go with pay until almost March - if you can't find a new job in 4 months, it's on you, and maybe they weren't wrong to give you up. A dynamic job market includes hiring and firings. At most they have to apologize for some disruption, and they more than made up for that with the severance packages. And about the language - "fire"…

If a well position and well oiled company is in fear of losing business and firing people how come you expect to find jobs let alone stable jobs. You give your 4-5 years to a company and the company dumps you at the first sight of hardship. I think Stripe made a bad choice when firing people. They should have decreased salaries, percentage wise more at the management level and try to keep their workers. I wouldn't wa…

> You give your 4-5 years to a company and the company dumps you at the first sight of hardship.

You got paid every month for those 4-5 years right? That's the settlement of what the company owes you for the time you gave them.

I've had this point of view for a long time. Every payday, you and your employer are even. If you feel that you are giving your employer more than they are giving you, you need to negotiate a raise, or start looking elsewhere for a better deal.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#603

Post by truncate »

hnews_account_1 wrote: post #580
thunkle wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ya'll are hyper focusing on the nights and weekends. That was my personal decision, not part of the culture.

Don’t worry. Online forums are always like that. They’ll pretend like they’ve never had a high pressure job that paid out handsomely if you applied yourself and hence motivated you to work harder. To them, they think everyone should have work life balance from the age of 23 just because they’ve discovered its importance at 32 years of age. Young people have to work hard. I don’t expect my reports to work on any eveni…

I just reached my 30s, and have pretty good WLB. Good WLB is just part of the picture though. You can work 5 hours a day and be miserable, and you can work 12 hours a day and be happy. It's also nice to have flexibility and independence I think. Being forced to work 12 hours always sucks over voluntarily working 12 hours.

I'd not recommend 23yo to stay chill in job, particularly if they have some ambition. At the same time, don't devoid yourself of other experiences in life if possible. Honestly, there is plenty of time in a day. If we have good discipline and prioritize correctly, lot can be done. That's what I struggle with personally.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#604

Post by berjin »

thunkle wrote: post #417
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.

Ya'll are hyper focusing on the nights and weekends. That was my personal decision, not part of the culture.

But in doing so were you not influencing the culture? Depending on how promotions etc work others might feel they need to keep up with that one guy working in the weekend.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#605

Post by rjh29 »

TearsInTheRain wrote: post #544
whimsicalism wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The culture is the product of many personal decisions. If I was working nights and (especially) weekends at my current employer (another big tech company), I would be told to stop.

why is that a good thing?

If some % of people are doing it then everyone will eventually be pressured to do it, otherwise they'll be at the bottom of the performance list. (Unless they are very good)

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#606

Post by sharkweek »

TorKlingberg wrote: post #418
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.

> Sucks because my manager was only told this morning As a manager I find their really curious. I guess they were trying to avoid leaks. I wonder how they chose who to lay off. Most recent performance rating? Next level managers impression?

I have a number of friends who all work at Stripe and this was definitely a secret circulating among the staff for at least the last week or so, like well beyond the "I wonder if we'll also have layoffs" rumors going around at almost every tech co right now.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#607

Post by mtkd »

verst wrote: post #564
jgoodhcg wrote: post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4 months is relatively generous but... > if you can't find a new job in 4 months, it's on you, This statement feels _wrong_. We are all subject to macro trends that we don't have control over. They impact our lives. Even the well off tech people but especially people in other industries.

Good luck finding a job in this economy now. It's tough for everyone, even the most skilled. Many companies have outright hiring freezes. I just read that Amazon now has a hiring freeze for all corporate jobs, previously this only impacted retail, stores etc

My email has gone from big recruitment finders-fee offers in spring to a drip of single 'seasoned candidate available' contacts in summer to '3 hand picked senior CVs enclosed' this week

It's possibly going to be hard yards for many people over next few months -- but lots of successful companies were born in such periods

I hope it works out for OP and everyone else impacted -- maybe one will build the next Stripe

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#608

Post by ljm »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #545
TearsInTheRain wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why is that a good thing?

To not drag down everyone else’s quality of life. Culture comes from the top. Defaults matter. Overarching thesis is the people who work to live don’t want to be dragged by those who live to work. Not a judgement about someone’s passion.

I agree with the overarching sentiment, which is to lead by example (even if you're not explicitly in a leadership position).

At the same time I can accept some nuance here, e.g. working nights and weekends because you're taking some time back during the day in the week.

Similarly with remote working, if there's a wide enough timezone difference you might shift your routine to maximise overlap with the team.

I'm strongly in favour of maintaining harmony between work and life such that you're able to comfortably do both, but would not insist on a hard and fast rule.

If someone even further up the ladder says X does nights and weekends, so should the rest of the team, then the buck stops with that person, and they are contributing negatively to the culture.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#609

Post by csharpminor »

blahblah123456 wrote: post #510
tasuki wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm all for layoffs, but this is indeed extremely curious.

Is it? They probably just haven't had time to update it. Also a lot of times online job listings mean nothing. They are just left up even if they are not actively hiring.

I think it is. Firing is horrendously expensive, so most companies will follow a progression of cuts before resorting to layoffs. They'll typically start with perks (e.g. travel / team entertainment / office space) and then progress to a hiring freeze, and then move to layoffs.

In Stripe's instance it seems like they went directly to layoffs. I heard that they did institute a PIP process last year but not sure what percent they cut.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#610

Post by kyawzazaw »

ergocoder wrote: post #465
jesuscript wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might sound wild, but maybe the decent thing to do is if the company warns the team months in advance that a purge is coming. Let those who need to leave, leave. Quietly tell those who you really want to remain that they should not fear.

It does sound wild. Letting people who are likely angry having access to company resources and financials being able to make real damages to Stripe's customers. Companies want to keep high performers. Voluntary layoffs is a very dumb move.

Voluntary layoffs has happened before in other companies.
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