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Zoom lays off 15% of employees

blog.zoom.us

151–160 of 596 posts

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#151
post #22

I find the use of infantile terms like 'zoomie' insulting. Please, treat your employees with due respect. You're giving them life-changing news.

Changing jobs should not be life-changing.

It has a very high likelihood of being life-changing for people on work visas.

It is also life-changing for anyone who genuinely believed in their job, whether out of passion or naïveté. Work is (unfortunately) a major pillar of people's lives in modern society and having that pillar collapse on you unexpectedly can be traumatic especially for younger adults early in their careers.

Also, there's a big difference between changing jobs on your own accord vs. being fired/laid off against your own desire.

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#152
post #8

> As the CEO and founder of Zoom, I am accountable for these mistakes and the actions we take today– and I want to show accountability not just in words but in my own actions. To that end, I am reducing my salary for the coming fiscal year by 98% and foregoing my FY23 corporate bonus. Members of my executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20% for the coming fiscal year while also forfeiting their…

> If you are a US-based employee who is impacted, you will receive an email to your Zoom and personal inboxes in the next 30 minutes that reads [IMPACTED] Departing Zoom: What You Need to Know.

This is the way to notify people of a layoff. Immediate binary yes/no.

Although there is no great way to do it, this layoff seems pretty respectful and well done.

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#153

a Lattician, a Flexporter, a Scalien, a Relativian, a Plaid, a Swyftxer, an Elastician, a Krakenite, a Dragon, an Asana, a Wistian, a Nuron, a Bird, a Twilion, a Pitcher, an Olivian, a Snyker, a Panda, an Astronaut, a Superhuman, a VTEXer, a Klarnaut, a Lacer, a Mozillian, a Paddler, an Oyster, a SoundHounder, a Vimean, a Zoopligan, a Motive, a Stasher, a Plerker, a Lokaliser, a Courserian, a Udacian, a Racker, a Git…

I think they're fun. Feels like summer camp, or college "Go banana slugs!" .

But please never call us family, unless you're going to back it up with what a healthy family does. Else, That's just psychological abuse.

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#154
post #78

"Zoomies" Just fucking stop with this already. Quit pretending like your employees are so aligned with the company that some kind of special terminology is needed, or even logical. The recent tech layoffs have clearly demonstrated, again (again, as in we've seen this play out a few times in the 2000's), that employees are basically assets that are scaled up and down as needed, like all the rest of corporate infrastru…

I think the idea is to try to create a kind of 'esprit de corps' specific to a particular organization - the idea that there is a bond and that working there is "special", out of the ordinary. It's good psychology, but rings hollow if a competent person is let go because of an economic downturn.

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#155
post #114
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s shouldn’t but when your health insurance relies on it , it pretty much is

People keep talking about this as if it is preACA. With COBRA you can keep your health insurance for a while and you can get similar plans from the exchanges. It shouldn’t be a huge deal considering the severance frequently also includes some lump some to cover it.

The existence of the ACA is no panacea. Many physicians and clinics purposely refuse to honor any ACA plan (for political reasons, in at least some cases of which I unfortunately know from personal experience). And everyone who’s been on COBRA for any length of time knows it is God-awful expensive since you’re now paying for the whole piece.

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#156

I find it kind of funny, kind of disappointing how in every one of these threads a bunch of the highly voted comments are complaining about some aspect of the layoff, like the goalposts keep moving. The way the layoffs were communicated, the fact that they were staggered, the fact that they weren’t staggered, that the ceo/founder doesn’t take responsibility, that they do but they don’t take action to punish themselve…

As opposed to meta whinging, which of course is the opposite of exhausting ;)

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#157

Lol at this point it's just comical. Not fun for those laid off, but this is a great life lesson for all those people who have given "loyalty" to their employer. We - the people who you often view as cynical and negative - live by the following rules: - People at work are not your friends. You can have friendly relationships, but they ain't your real friends. You will only know if they can become your real friends on…

[deleted]

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

short of giving shares away to laid off employees there isn't much a founder can do, majority of their net worth is equity. Even for the CEOs their income is mostly tied to stock performance. If the CEO was much worse than the average tech CEO the board would fire them the biggest reason these companies are getting flak is due to pretending they weren't like other industry "soulless corporations". People naturally do…

Goalpost moving. The people who complain that CEO's don't show any accountability, will then complain that whatever consequences the CEO's face (or self impose) are insignificant. Would you like this guy to commit hara-kiri?

How about a few CEO's getting fired for cause by their Boards, because their "I just do whatever the cooler kids are doing" hiring/firing binges show that they really aren't competent to run a company?

Re: Zoom lays off 15% of employees

#160
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

99% chance the board was also pushing for massive hiring to focus on growth during the pandemic and the zero-interest rate era, and 99% chance they're pushing for layoffs and focus on operating profits now that we're in the expensive money era. The board will review the CEO and say "yes this is exactly what we wanted you to do, thank you."

How long is it expected for the expensive money era to end? aka, don't we have SOME insight into the fact that the fed will probably be done hiking around the 5.00%-5.25% range soon, and then either hold it there for maybe 6 months before doing cuts? how long can the Fed really keep rates at 5% despite the pressure of... wall street? the economy's well being (despite it being too dependent on cheap capital)? how much…

Nobody has a crystal ball. The last time inflation was this big of a problem in the west (~1980) rates touched over 20% and stayed above 10% for multiple years. What makes you so sure that 5% is the limit, or that there will be cuts after 6 months?
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