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Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

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Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#141

Post by sharemywin »

colinmorelli wrote: post #86

Regardless of individual opinions on whether CEOs should be terminated for layoffs or not - there's a surprising amount of comments here that seem to not understand that growing companies don't hire for today, but for where they want to be tomorrow. Where you want to be tomorrow is based on where you and your investors believe the world is going. If the world materially changes enough to shift your expectations about…

But when you post insane profits and still laying off people? come on. good luck hiring people next time your looking for people.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#142

Post by sharemywin »

colinmorelli wrote: post #86

Regardless of individual opinions on whether CEOs should be terminated for layoffs or not - there's a surprising amount of comments here that seem to not understand that growing companies don't hire for today, but for where they want to be tomorrow. Where you want to be tomorrow is based on where you and your investors believe the world is going. If the world materially changes enough to shift your expectations about…

I just hate the CEO's saying "I take full responsibility for what happened"

I call bullshit. If you did you'd quit in shame.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#143

Post by gwright »

standardUser wrote: post #126
mabbo wrote: post #20

The goal of the CEO of a publicly traded company is to make the shareholders money. As much money as possible. If laying people off is the best way to do that, they'll do it. Blaming the CEO for doing the job they were hired to do seems short-sighted. Blame the broken system that incentivizes this, that makes doing it profitable. And then, let's change the system.

I don't see how hiring and then firing huge numbers of people over the course of 3 years is making anyone any money. In fact, that sounds incredibly costly, not to mention the impact on morale and reputation. Perhaps the "best way" was to make better staffing decisions, which a lot of these C teams failed at spectacularly.

You are using hindsight to make that judgement.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#144

Post by sokoloff »

bastardoperator wrote: post #140
sokoloff wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alphabet is absolutely posting troublesome trends in their revenue reports. Google ad results down, YouTube results down two quarters in a row… That’s what pays the bills at Alphabet.

So you agree the CEO should be fired...

I think they should if they fail to react appropriately to the downturn in ad spending by their customers.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#145

Post by Gunax »

glitchc wrote: post #39

The only solution is to form a guild for software engineers. Control access to the guild through credentials and other means. Provide mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities through the guild. Allow the guild to negotiate rates and working conditions with the industry. If actors can do it, why can't we? If you want to level the playing field with tech CEOs, that's the way to do it.

You can make one. But i think you'll find most of us are not interested, though.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#146

Post by insane_dreamer »

I like the approach that Intel took, which was to cut back pay, in tiered fashion (i.e., greater cut for higher officers) for high paid employees (above $X, remember what X was exactly at this point) rather than fire a bunch of people at the bottom. (I think they did fire some staff in California, but not at their main base which is in Oregon.

Edit: 5% to 15% pay cut, with 15% cut for C-level and 25% cut for CEO

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#147

Post by colinmorelli »

sharemywin wrote: post #142
colinmorelli wrote: post #86

Regardless of individual opinions on whether CEOs should be terminated for layoffs or not - there's a surprising amount of comments here that seem to not understand that growing companies don't hire for today, but for where they want to be tomorrow. Where you want to be tomorrow is based on where you and your investors believe the world is going. If the world materially changes enough to shift your expectations about…

I just hate the CEO's saying "I take full responsibility for what happened" I call bullshit. If you did you'd quit in shame.

If the bar for asking a CEO to quit is "you did not correctly predict the future" then we're going to have to ask most CEOs to quit at some point. And most employees for that matter.

The issue I have is with broad strokes generalizations that layoffs indicate a failure of a CEO. They don't necessarily mean that. Any more than shipping a bug to production indicates a failure of an engineer who should now be fired. Similarly, not laying people off is not an indicator of success. Nor is not shipping a bug to production.

The question is not "can we predict the future," but rather "did we do the right things to capture the right data to make the best decision" and if the answer to that question is yes - then any other reasonable person in the same position would likely have made a similar (if not the same) choice, and it's not clear what firing anyone does besides being punitive. Again, same for any employee that makes a mistake. This is not me giving a free pass to CEOs.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#148

Post by bastardoperator »

dnissley wrote: post #139
bastardoperator wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of this addresses the responsibility part.

Who holds the ceo responsible? The board. If the board themselves would have made the same hiring calls, it's unlikely they could fault the ceo for making those calls as well. By extension -- who doesn't hold the ceo responsible? The court of public opinion, which is what all of these comments and articles spilling barrels of ink on this issue think should be the case, but is not actually the case (and for obviously…

Who holds you responsible for your actions?... For me personally, I don't have a board of directors I can deflect to. I self regulate.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#149

Post by sharemywin »

tyre wrote: post #134
colinmorelli wrote: post #86

Regardless of individual opinions on whether CEOs should be terminated for layoffs or not - there's a surprising amount of comments here that seem to not understand that growing companies don't hire for today, but for where they want to be tomorrow. Where you want to be tomorrow is based on where you and your investors believe the world is going. If the world materially changes enough to shift your expectations about…

This is the measured take. What happens if the COVID lockdown demand surge happens and companies don’t hire? Customers don’t get what they want. Businesses that want to move online can’t or have a worse experience. The companies themselves are under-resourced for the actual demand and can’t invest in the future of their business because they’re struggling to keep the lights on. I understand people are pissed about la…

Why hire and not use contractors.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#150

Post by snotrockets »

colinmorelli wrote: post #147
sharemywin wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just hate the CEO's saying "I take full responsibility for what happened" I call bullshit. If you did you'd quit in shame.

If the bar for asking a CEO to quit is "you did not correctly predict the future" then we're going to have to ask most CEOs to quit at some point. And most employees for that matter. The issue I have is with broad strokes generalizations that layoffs indicate a failure of a CEO. They don't necessarily mean that. Any more than shipping a bug to production indicates a failure of an engineer who should now be fired. Sim…

The CEO job is to choose the best prediction of the future from those available to them, and make sure the company executes on it. So yes, that's the bar.
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