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Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

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Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#91

Post by beedogs »

E14n wrote: post #85
its_so_on wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will just point out that in the present climate the bonus is NOT exorbitant where Miso is based, especially post-funding or after a few employees. Exorbitant would be: equity; $50k; paid on when the referral joins (instead after 6 months); paid if the referral is brought in for an interview, regardless of hire. (would be VERY VERY exorbitant). This is just standard.

I guess it is a different culture. In the teams I have experience with, people referred because they wanted to work with good people.

You either need to read the fine print of your employment contracts better, or you've never signed one that included a referral bonus. It probably would've been mentioned by your hiring manager, or whoever interviewed you for the position, or the HR rep.

The amount varies, but the last two places I've worked have spelled out their referral bonus amounts and terms explicitly.

Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#92

Post by catch23 »

dlokshin wrote: post #11

I'm not sure that the 10k was worth it for J Wu. Employers Google potential employees, and this blog post will definitely show up. Even though I feel he's in the right this type of public shaming would make me think twice about hiring him. Just doesn't seem like it's worth the hassle even though I don't plan on doing anything terrible to my employees (criminal in this case!) To be clear, I feel that Miso is in the wr…

I doubt employers would even notice. He's got a pretty generic name so unless you're really doing some hard core sleuthing, I doubt this blog post would appear in a search for "Josh Wu".

And in today's crazy bubble market, if you know what a web browser is, you'll probably get hired.

Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#93

Post by veemjeem »

dlokshin wrote: post #11

I'm not sure that the 10k was worth it for J Wu. Employers Google potential employees, and this blog post will definitely show up. Even though I feel he's in the right this type of public shaming would make me think twice about hiring him. Just doesn't seem like it's worth the hassle even though I don't plan on doing anything terrible to my employees (criminal in this case!) To be clear, I feel that Miso is in the wr…

Most of the heroes of our time do things that are probably not worth it financially, but do it to set things right for future generations. I'm sure Martin Luther King was well aware that he'd probably be assassinated for attempting to bring equality to the african americans, but he stood up for what he believed in. I feel like most people these days would rather live a happy passive life, than rock the boat to help future generations.

Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#95

Post by alan_cx »

It is almost worse that they paid up. The message I receive is that they will try to screw people over, but if to gets too hot they will pay up and desperately try to cover their butts. It shows them to be fundamentally dishonest at their core. Imagine being a customer. I wouldn't want to be one. I now know that if there is a problem it will be my fault, until they get too much bad publicity.

Im glad the guy got his money, but it only makes the business look worse, IMHO.

Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#96

Post by eric-hu »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #32

Moving forward, we have established the following clear criteria to explain how employees will be eligible for the $10K referral bonus: - The employee must provide a referral for a full-time hire. - The referred employee must work at Miso for 6 full months after hire date (excluding any leaves of absence) - The referring employee must be employed at Miso and not have given notice to depart the company prior to the da…

What I learned earlier this year is that tech recruiters get paid a flat fee for their services, plus a percentage of the recruitee's salary after some vesting period, usually 6 months. From what I heard, that percentage was between 15-25 percent.

Consider that the average programmer's salary is above 60k. 15% of that is 9k, plus the flat fee. The company has already gotten roughly 10k out of this referral transaction. It's not just an incentive to build a strong team...it's how much they'd have to pay if there were no employee referral program at all.

Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#97

Post by MortenK »

The engineer came off very combative and threatening from the start. After just 3 emails, he publishes a one sided case with the sole purpose of instigating an internet witch hunt.

Based on such an aggressive attitude from the get-go, it seems likely there is significant history between Misu and the guy that we don't know about.

Misu surely doesn't look good in this case, but neither does he. A lot of employers will think twice about hiring a guy who is so quick to publicize a disagreement.

Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#98

Post by rogerjin »

javajosh wrote: post #65
rogerjin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. One of the best comments I've seen on HN yet.

Thanks! Felt good to write it. One concern that I have is that the Miso CEO (and people like him) will take away the wrong lesson, along the lines of "be careful what you say to employees in email" . But the real lesson is that you should keep your promises, and if you have a moment of weakness and try to reneg on a promise, don't be proud: admit the mistake and keep the promise. People make mistakes, even twenty-som…

I 100% agree with your concern, and that is the problem for it extends beyond tech startups to anyone in the world who have this mindset (of which there are many -- the ruthlessly, amorally, ambitious.)

Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#99

Post by ww520 »

silentscope wrote: post #41

They were both wrong. Any employee who leaves 10k behind didn't care enough about it in the first place. The fact that he forgot is huge. A company that talks about bonuses of that size with no legal contract didn't care enough about it to start with. The developer will pay with his reputation. Any employer who knows what happened will never fully trust him, except after a long working relationship. Miso will pay by…

I don't think the developer paid with his reputation. He actually gains reputation as someone who would stand up to injustice and unethical behavior. Of course unethical employers would hesitate to trust him but do you want to work for unethical employers?

Re: Miso pays disputed $10k referral bonus to ex-engineer, apologizes

#100

Post by ww520 »

lkrubner wrote: post #50

People just now checking Hacker News might have missed the earlier conversation, so here is the URL: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3955391

Was that post deleted? How come it doesn't show up on the front page, the next page, or the 3rd page anymore?
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