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Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

newsroom.spotify.com

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Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#361

Post by ren_engineer »

phamilton4 wrote: post #127

I get needing to keep a company lean and that businesses operate to make money... But most of these recent layoffs really make me feel uneasy. Spotify is a little different because AFAIK they are still operating at a negative net income, but still let's take a look at this. They're going to let go 600 people.. that's maybe an annual 90 million in savings (150k salary). The company's revenue is about 9 billion with -3…

if you expect a multi year recession it makes sense, especially when you aren't profitable and interest rates are rising

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#362

Post by f6v »

jlarocco wrote: post #323
kypro wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but a lot of these companies massively over hired over the last couple of years. While others were losing their jobs during the pandemic tech employees were in higher demand than ever. In fact, I'd argue the demand for tech workers has been so high over the last couple of years that a lot of people who really shouldn't have got a job based on their experience were able to do so. I…

There's another way to look at it, though. Without unions, employees are disposable. Companies hire them when money is plentiful and throw them away when it's convenient. It clearly benefits the employers and investors to operate that way. With a union, employees aren't so dispensable, and companies have to take a longer term view when hiring because they can't get rid of employees on a whim. Despite being more stabl…

You don’t need a union. It’s enough to have a long notice period required by law.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#363

Post by bastardoperator »

alldayeveryday wrote: post #350
bastardoperator wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I pay someone to do nothing, who is at fault? The person who shows up ready to work everyday or the person who made a bad hiring decision and doesn't have the work for that person? I'm not arguing against layoffs, I'm arguing that the people making the hiring mistakes are not accountable. If I as a CFO give the green light to increase the company's workforce by 10% and two years later make a full reverse, that CFO…

> Most companies employ a board of narcissists that only care about themselves and their wallet My read is a bit different, in that the board optimizes to the stock price above all, which yes they benefit from but that just means their personal interests are in alignment with the interests of stock holders. I do not blame the leaders so much as I blame the model. Leaders who do not optimize the stock price are quickl…

I think you can dislike the behaviors being exhibited and the game simultaneously. I hear you, it's the reality of the situation we live in now, but it's not a good system for the vast majority of people.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#364

Post by [deleted] »

deltree7 wrote: post #352
bastardoperator wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I pay someone to do nothing, who is at fault? The person who shows up ready to work everyday or the person who made a bad hiring decision and doesn't have the work for that person? I'm not arguing against layoffs, I'm arguing that the people making the hiring mistakes are not accountable. If I as a CFO give the green light to increase the company's workforce by 10% and two years later make a full reverse, that CFO…

This is extremely naive take. No one can predict the future. If I hire a bunch of construction workers expecting to sell 100 homes and suddenly the housing market collapse and I need to only build 50 homes that I have contract for, I need to fire some construction workers. It is as simple as that. No one can predict business cycles and that is the fundamental driver of sales and input costs. If one can successfully p…

[deleted]

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#365

Post by overgard »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #356
overgard wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah "misinformation". (Which seems to be far-left speak for "has a different opinion and I'd rather censor them than argue with them".) Rogan is a comedian and has never claimed any special expertise. If you're worried that people listen to him over the legacy news media, well, what does it say about them that somehow a comedian has more credibility than they do?

> If you're worried that people listen to him over the legacy news media, well, what does it say about them that somehow a comedian has more credibility than they do? It says absolutely nothing about the "legacy news media". It just means that many people are incredibly gullible. Joe Rogan does not have more credibility, but some people THINK he does, and that's the problem.

I think that's frankly a condescending world view. Who made you the arbiter of what's true and what's not? Listening to Joe Rogan doesn't mean you agree, it just means he brings on interesting guests and trusts his viewers to make up their own mind.

Who do you think people are more inclined to listen to, someone that treats their audience with respect, or someone that calls a broad swath of the population idiots?

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#366

Post by deltree7 »

nytesky wrote: post #160
phamilton4 wrote: post #127

I get needing to keep a company lean and that businesses operate to make money... But most of these recent layoffs really make me feel uneasy. Spotify is a little different because AFAIK they are still operating at a negative net income, but still let's take a look at this. They're going to let go 600 people.. that's maybe an annual 90 million in savings (150k salary). The company's revenue is about 9 billion with -3…

The layoffs aren’t about actually saving the cost of those specific employees. Instead, the threat of being laid off is being used as a stick to bring the remaining employees in line — productivity has been lower the last few years, and leadership has no real way to measure on an individual level or how to improve it, so putting the pressure on employees is a tried and true tactics. Further, they can make lower TC of…

Bingo! Not many people realize some firings actually increase productivity.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#367

Post by nayuki »

gedaxiang wrote: post #334
jlarocco wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's another way to look at it, though. Without unions, employees are disposable. Companies hire them when money is plentiful and throw them away when it's convenient. It clearly benefits the employers and investors to operate that way. With a union, employees aren't so dispensable, and companies have to take a longer term view when hiring because they can't get rid of employees on a whim. Despite being more stabl…

> companies have to take a longer term view when hiring because they can't get rid of employees on a whim that would make it harder to find a new job, right? tradeoffs to consider

Yup. Hard to fire = hard to hire. Why should an employer take a chance on hiring you, if in case it doesn't work out, they need to spend considerable time and money to fire you?

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#368

Post by [deleted] »

phamilton4 wrote: post #127

I get needing to keep a company lean and that businesses operate to make money... But most of these recent layoffs really make me feel uneasy. Spotify is a little different because AFAIK they are still operating at a negative net income, but still let's take a look at this. They're going to let go 600 people.. that's maybe an annual 90 million in savings (150k salary). The company's revenue is about 9 billion with -3…

[deleted]

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#369

Post by grey-area »

type-r wrote: post #290
grey-area wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bubble imploding, this is serious. The value of money has shifted for good after a decade of excess, there is rampant inflation and there is a recession incoming. These companies have seen the writing on the wall and are making the first of many layoffs to address this. This started last year and will last another year at least, possibly a few years. Apparently most eases of this sore are still in denial ab…

Why do you say it has shifted "for good"? The Fed itself plans to bring interest rates back down actually fairly quickly [0], following a half-year of decreasing inflation rates [1]. [0] https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomcprojtabl20... [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/273418/unadjusted-monthl...

The Fed is infamous for being wrong, both in projections and in reactions.

In fact a good case could be made for their policy mistakes leading them to this dilemma where they must choose between causing inflation or recession.

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