Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Plaid Layoffs

plaid.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 345 posts

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#201

Post by stu2b50 »

function_seven wrote: post #160
stu2b50 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? That seems entirely innocuous?

I'll try to explain why I think it's gross. All of these tech companies come up with cutesy terms for employees. "Googlers", "Plaids", "Metamates", "Splunkers", "Pinployees". It seems like a cheap way of tying workers' identities to The Company. It's a cheap gesture used in an attempt to create a distinct "culture". So in the context of a mass-termination, it really rubs me the wrong way to refer to these people as "…

Having worked at tech companies with cutesy employee nicknames, I really think that's overthinking it. It is probably a way to try to have more corporate unity, but it does not do so to a noticeable extent. And IMO it's more about tech companies trying to capture the whimsy of early Google - it's trying to have the vibe of "hey, it's a casual place - we call ourselves a stupid, silly nickname in our stupid, silly named company, as opposed to [Name] and [Name] corp." It worked better with Google, because Googler, and Noogler are extra ridiculous, but that's pretty much it.

I can guarantee you that the letter referred to Plaid employees as "Plaids" is quite literally the last thing on the minds of any current or ex Plaid employees. It's not that big of a deal. It's not particularly dehumanizing, nor brainwashing. It's mildly cringy, half by design, but that's about it.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#202

Post by gfdgfdgdfggf »

eat wrote: post #196
jdnffjvnv wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you advocating for mob violence against CEOs for laying people off?

Is this pearl-clutching, or do you honestly believe GP was suggesting we should become literal Chimpanzees and mobsters?

GP is using violent analogies.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#203

Post by carb »

mi_lk wrote: post #93
scifibestfi wrote: post #16

> approximately 260 talented Plaids "Plaids" This joins the list of Googlers, Xooglers, Nooglers, Amazonians, Tweeps, Krakenites, what else?

Uberers ?

Uberetto/a was used internally by travis kalanick for a long time

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#204

Post by dehrmann »

erehweb wrote: post #6

16 weeks of base pay - perhaps this is becoming industry standard for big company layoffs? (influenced by CA WARN act?) Interesting they are paying the cash equivalent of 6 months of healthcare, rather than just extending healthcare for 6 months.

WARN Act is only 60 days, though.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#205

Post by [deleted] »

jacobmarble wrote: post #59
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…

Is it the company's responsibility to employ people until it runs out of money? Are you certain that "here is some money" is just to keep the internet anger at bay? Do companies exist to protect their employees, or to provide something useful for their customers?

[deleted]

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#206

Post by hinkley »

toss1 wrote: post #161
bobmaxup wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

>>Kind of a stretch, no? Nope. Not unless there are actions to backup the words. Some kind of actual sacrifice that helps actually cleanup the mess. E.g., do the CEO & Execs give back all bonuses and substantial salary for the past X years these bad decision were made, and keep working for $1/year until they are fixed? Do the CEO & Execs personally make calls using their own personal & professional capital to find ne…

Strangely Steve Jobs did in fact work for $1 a year. A couple others have as well. Might be why he’s one of the most highly regarded narcissists. He was smart enough to intellectually understand why was better off delaying his gratification to build morale, even if intuition and empathy didn’t tell him this instantly.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#207

Post by dehrmann »

glonq wrote: post #86

Not that any time is a good time to be laid off, but being this close to Christmas sucks worse. It'll make shopping and travel and family plans a little more uncomfortable.

Yeah, you're not really supposed to do layoffs between Nov 15 and January. Right now (Dec 7) is a bit of a dick move because it's almost impossible to get an on-site scheduled this month because people will be out.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#208

Post by adamesque »

adamrezich wrote: post #76
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…

aside from the funny proper noun, how should things be handled differently? why do people think that corporations' primary goal should be to maintain employment of everyone in their company, that there's some sort of moral imperative to do so? is this just because social media has been pretending that corporations are people for so long now that we've forgot that they actually aren't?

I think people are increasingly uncomfortable seeing the price for strategic errors not being paid at all by the people responsible for those errors. It's tricky because I don't necessarily think the CEO should be fired, but it feels like the chain of accountability is broken.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#209

Post by cco »

glonq wrote: post #98

laid off + paid off = Plaid off

Internally at Plaid this would be called a Plortmanteau. I'm 100% sure this joke was made today by employees there.

Re: Plaid Layoffs

#210

Post by nytesky »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #168
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…

I don't get this sentiment that's been picking up around here, the company literally does not have to provide you severance, and in this case it's 16 weeks pay. That's 4 months to find another job, and you're being paid to do it! Companies aren't these charitable job factories you make them out to be, they're trying to make money. And in this case, they messed up. Any ideas what they should have done better? I mean I…

I thought companies had to provide 60 days warning (the WARNS act?), so half would be the minimum required by law. Or they could notify people of layoffs 60 days ahead, giving people ample time to look for new jobs, plan accordingly, perhaps leave early AND give severance (which was the original intent of the law I expect).
Post reply on HN