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Plaid Layoffs

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Re: Plaid Layoffs

#61

Post by game_the0ry »

monero-xmr wrote: post #19

Dear Floofernistas, This is the hardest thing I have ever done. The market changed - I thought we would make more money, now I think we will make less money. Therefore we have discovered that we don't need all of you. If you aren't needed, here is some money. I hope this is enough money that the internet isn't too mad at me. Remaining Floofernistas, please be kind to the ex-Floofernistas, and help them. Again, I am s…

In the chimpanzee world, this would be handled differently.

In chimp world, when alpha chimp causes chaos that brings down the community, a group of beta chimps will tear apart alpha chimp limb-by-limb, then they elect a new alpha from the group of beta subversives. This also how the organized crime works - leaders get a lot of benefits, but they also get the downside accountability when they fuck up ("skin in the game").

In modern corporate america, this relationship is broken - when CEO fucks up, he just fires a bunch of people, and then collects the bonus at the end of year in the for of stock performance (layoffs are to maintain stock performance). This is why finds the half-hearted apologies to be hollow and unpalatable.

Let us bring back accountability. Apes. Together. Strong.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#62

Post by googlryas »

namdnay wrote: post #24
james_pm wrote: post #3

Referring to people as "Plaids" is dehumanizing. 260 talented people were let go.

It’s the silly cutsey name they give to themselves, like metamates or googlers. So it makes sense to consider them “part of the family” until the end

Maybe they should have been called stripes because many stripes together compose aid. But that would be a bit weird naming themselves after one of their competitors.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#63

Post by stevehawk »

kgwgk wrote: post #33
lagolinguini wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why?

Because the UK is in Europe. Makes as much sense as a Japanese company referring repeteadly to employees in New York and/or the United States.

technically you wanted "New York and or North Americans"... if you're trying to be pedantic about things you gotta go full pedantic.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#64

Post by bobmaxup »

hinkley wrote: post #46
dougmwne wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And BTW, I take full responsibility for everything, which means nothing.

Narcissists think the worst punishment in the world is having to admit they were wrong about something. Not cleaning up their messes, of course. That’s still on everybody else. They’re too busy contending with this harsh reality of not being right all the time. Which means if anyone says they take full responsibility, they’re either saying “I’m a big fat narcissist” or that they imprinted on narcissists, so all of th…

> Which means if anyone says they take full responsibility, they’re either saying “I’m a big fat narcissist” or that they imprinted on narcissists, so all of their mentors were.

Kind of a stretch, no?

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#65

Post by hackitup7 »

usui wrote: post #8
amykhar wrote: post #2

So cold, announcing layoffs to employees this way. A blog post saying "yeah, if you work for us, you're about to get an email telling you if you still do or not"

If you have a lot of experience with seeing how layoffs go down in companies, you'll see that no one is ever satisfied with the way they are done. The reception of it is highly subjective. I personally would want to get an email telling me directly and with no bullshit involved. I don't want to listen to a CEO come up with some fake apology, and I also want to absorb the news in the confort of my own time, in my own…

This applies generally to all sorts of bad news that is likely to spread. It's unfortunate but if news is bad enough almost any way that you deliver it will have significant negative sentiment. As a result IMO the emphasis should generally be on telling people the bad news extremely clearly and efficiently, rather than on the surrounding showmanship.

The converse is also true, if you're telling someone that they're getting a raise you could do it over Slack and they'll generally be happy.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#67

Post by glonq »

monero-xmr wrote: post #19

Dear Floofernistas, This is the hardest thing I have ever done. The market changed - I thought we would make more money, now I think we will make less money. Therefore we have discovered that we don't need all of you. If you aren't needed, here is some money. I hope this is enough money that the internet isn't too mad at me. Remaining Floofernistas, please be kind to the ex-Floofernistas, and help them. Again, I am s…

"Signed, rich guy who hopes that shareholders react positively to these layoffs"

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#68

Post by im_down_w_otp »

lxe wrote: post #28

What delusional playbook does every tech leader get the idea to refer to their employees by cringey names like "Plaids" or "Metamates" in serious memos like this? Imagine if your physician did this... "Hey there KaiserPermanientoid! You have cancer!"

At my company we called everyone Auxon, but then eventually figured out that engineers are way more expensive than livestock, so we replaced them all with oxen. Now it's just me, my co-founder, and a smelly barn with keyboards on the ground connected to Emacs terminals getting sporadically trampled by hooves. /s

Also, I have no idea where this compulsion comes from, but I agree that it's peculiar. To me it has always felt like a bit of infantilization. It does appear to work wonders for some company cultures though where they've managed to unanimously attract people who don't find it patronizing.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#69

Post by madsbuch »

kgwgk wrote: post #33
lagolinguini wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why?

Because the UK is in Europe. Makes as much sense as a Japanese company referring repeteadly to employees in New York and/or the United States.

The UK is not a city in Europe.

Europe in this sense seems to refer to the union, not the continent.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#70

Post by boringg »

I get that layoffs seriously are terrible but a lot of these tech companies are providing some pretty seriously nice exit packages.

I fail to understand the amount of acid in the comment thread? Layoffs suck, corporate speak is always cringey.

What would people want as alternatives outside perfectly executed business plans that don't have layoffs? Handheld individual exit goodbye packages?

Im seriously asking for legit solutions.

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