It's interesting the number of company layoffs recently that have listed "you can keep your laptop" as part of the severance package. Is it possible that shipping charges for layoffs of this size plus the overhead and personnel to deal with such numbers of returns is more expensive than just having employees keep them?
Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
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Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#92At this point it's beginning to look like tech companies are doing this because it's the trendy thing to do, along with inserting a few words about AI in their websites and pitch decks.
> tech companies are doing this because it's the trendy thing to do,
No, they are doing this because we are in a recession and businesses are always the first to know and labor is the last to know.
Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#93If they would lower their prices to be competitive they’d get a lot more cash. We tried to switch to Gitlab and at every turn they acted like We just weren’t worth the $$. Seems they want nothing but big enterprise accounts and they push everyone else to free
Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#94Generous severance, half the layoff size of other firms by percentage, particular attention paid to health care. I have always admired GitLab, and I remain impressed.
"Please sir, may I have some more?"
Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#95Ok, 7%. With all the cost, I wonder if just stopping hiring and letting normal attrition rate play out would have had almost the same effect.
No because some of the effect is to instill fear.
So, let me understand your argument. The CEO choose to lay people off in order to scare the remaining employees? To what end?
Also, if the intention was to "instill fear". Why give good severance? Why not give nothing?
Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the correct answer. The Fed rate is the main driver for these layoffs. The fed is trying to cause a slowdown in the economy (including layoffs) in order to temper inflation.
This isn't an explanation. The job market has been red hot over the past year, and the total of tech layoffs comprise a small fraction of overall job growth in the US. HN users think there is a recession because they are only focused on their particular industry, and refuse to look at what the actual economy is doing.
Employment usually peaks just before a recession, along with denial of course.
The real economy is not doing well globally, inflation is a serious problem, and the impact of the rate hikes will take about 10 months to show up (so should hit this year).
Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the correct answer. The Fed rate is the main driver for these layoffs. The fed is trying to cause a slowdown in the economy (including layoffs) in order to temper inflation.
This isn't an explanation. The job market has been red hot over the past year, and the total of tech layoffs comprise a small fraction of overall job growth in the US. HN users think there is a recession because they are only focused on their particular industry, and refuse to look at what the actual economy is doing.
I don't think HN posts are why most people feel like there is a recession.
Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#98Listened to a great podcast about layoffs yesterday ( https://hbr.org/podcast/2023/02/why-many-companies-get-layof... ) The takeaway is that layoffs are extremely trust destroying for employees NOT laid off, and in the end not clear they're a financial net positive. Both with direct and indirect costs (lack of engagement from employees, etc).
My issue with analyses like this is they argue that layoffs are a bad idea and it's just companies shooting themselves in a foot. That's what people want to hear, so it gets a lot of clicks and citations. But, this also means that all the big companies (and that's a lot of them) that just announced layoffs made a obviously bad move. Are they all stupid? I find it hard to believe.
It's more plausible, that yeah, layoffs are trust destroying and life ruining, but they make shareholders rich, so they are a rational choice expected from CEOs.
Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#99There’s an opportunity for a SaaS that will provide a boilerplate layoff template, all you have to do is put in your % impacted and severance terms.
That doesn't sound too far from a mail merge.
Re: Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff
#100Listened to a great podcast about layoffs yesterday ( https://hbr.org/podcast/2023/02/why-many-companies-get-layof... ) The takeaway is that layoffs are extremely trust destroying for employees NOT laid off, and in the end not clear they're a financial net positive. Both with direct and indirect costs (lack of engagement from employees, etc).
My issue with analyses like this is they argue that layoffs are a bad idea and it's just companies shooting themselves in a foot. That's what people want to hear, so it gets a lot of clicks and citations. But, this also means that all the big companies (and that's a lot of them) that just announced layoffs made a obviously bad move. Are they all stupid? I find it hard to believe. It's more plausible, that yeah, layof…
Honestly yes. If you’ve been in any high exec meeting you’ll know they’re all stupid. Like, arguably more so than the average engineer.