> approximately 260 talented Plaids "Plaids" This joins the list of Googlers, Xooglers, Nooglers, Amazonians, Tweeps, Krakenites, what else?
I worked at a place called Blend and they used “Blendkind.” My first question in onboarding was if anyone had thought of “Blender”
Plaid Layoffs
251–260 of 345 posts
Re: Plaid Layoffs
#252Wait, if they're paying the cash equivalent of six-months of healthcare (in the US), on average, how many months of healthcare does that translate to on the open market with the same deductibles/coverage/oop max?
Re: Plaid Layoffs
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 ga…
The problem is in real life your analogy would actually map the alphas to the ceos and the betas to the shareholders/stakeholders. The employees are nowhere in this. Edit: as the other post said, they would be the sticks, shovels and other assorted tools…
Re: Plaid Layoffs
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hate Plaid as a company and I chortled at this. The next tech boom may not include any sort of unionizing, but I feel like we should all agree that tech companies don't get to pick "fun" names to call their employees and make that the line we draw in the sand.
Out of curiousity, why do you have Plaid? They were pretty aggressively recruiting over the past year and while I didn't respond I was tempted to at least look into them.
I also suspect it’s a violation of my bank’s terms of service, and in event of a data breach I’d be out of luck
Re: Plaid Layoffs
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you elaborate? I'm considering this path.
It is likely enough money to get an MVP working to pitch to investors. Obviously not if you have a family to take of as well.
The potential is obvious: get something off the ground in 2 months. Do you know what someone mostly new to founding a startup should do to start?
I've got ideas, I've got potential cofounders, and I can prototype MVPs, but I don't understand the landscape beyond what I remember from How To Start a Startup. So I'm just probing for any pointers you might have cause I think I'm going to actually do this.
Re: Plaid Layoffs
#256I 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 leg…
> perfectly executed business plans that don't have layoffs? Plaid was actively recruiting 2 weeks ago. In spring I (and many other people) knew these types of layoffs where coming to tech this fall, the current economic situation was not some unforeseeable event. Nobody in their right mind thought the early pandemic rapid growth was healthy or sustainable. Growth for growth's sake has always been a ridiculous strate…
Having been laid off a couple of times during the great recession era, I never ever take a job without first analyzing the likelihood of a layoff to occur and how it would impact my role. I have a list of interview questions I ask potential employers and the bulk of it is around how they handled lay-offs in the past and how they will handle them in the future. I ask about cash reserves for such situations and I ask about how they handle growth. Asking these things will give you some idea of the shit show that will appear sooner or later.
You're right; market conditions are unpredictable and there's so much speculation that it's difficult to gauge where things will go in 2-5 years, so you should always plan for an economic down-turn scenario regardless of how rosy things look at the time of employment.
All of that being said, this is still a relatively solid lay-off plan and I think the bashing is a bit on the harsh side considering the outcome here. Nowhere is safe right now and if you think it is, you're going to have a bad time.
Re: Plaid Layoffs
#257ChatGPT for layoff announcements > generate a notice that approximately 4000 people are going to be laid off Dear valued employees, It is with great regret that we must inform you that our company will be downsizing and approximately 4000 employees will be laid off. This decision was not made lightly, but it has become necessary in order to keep our company financially viable. We understand that this news may be diff…
Holy shit the bot does a great job at this. Ironically, I now get to fire a couple Communications Specialists and tell the HR team to just use the bot. Thanks, you just unlocked value.
Re: Plaid Layoffs
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the US, (most) employers are required to offer former employees continued coverage via the COBRA ( https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/health-plans/cobra ) program. COBRA compliance is built in to corporate insurance policies. Extending healthcare coverage via another method would require extra costs on the employer's part. Giving former employees the cash equivalent allows them to use COBRA if desired or to find al…
I don't think this correct. My understanding is that COBRA is a federal act to allow former employees (who meet certain conditions) to keep the same healthcare plan they had under their former employer. This is important because it preserves the amounts paid into the deductible, as well as the coverage. COBRA, as far as I understand, is not offered by the employer. It is a federal safety net. The employer has no mone…
I looked at the price for COBRA coverage for me and the family when I left my previous employer - $34,000 / year. Ouch.
Re: Plaid Layoffs
#259Dear 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 ga…
Where is the mistake?
I’m not saying it is always like this and the scenarios above is simplified to illustrate a point. However, it would be silly to assume all companies always grow in headcount, and any downsizing is the CEO somehow messing up.