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Layoffs at Block

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Re: Layoffs at Block

#61

Post by toast0 »

t-writescode wrote: post #28

Nice severance; but in this job market, holy shit. Yeah, you get 5 months of severance and a bunch of devices and such; but, does this CEO really think these employees will find new work in that time? In this job market? If the profits are still up and growing, why on earth would you evict 40% of the company, to send them into this job market? Why not … try new industries, play around, try to become the next Mitsubis…

Maybe I'm a big capitalist, but 5 months of severance seems very generous; a job hasn't been a commitment that the company will take care of you forever in several generations. Covering you until the middle of this year should go a long way, and yeah the job market is messed up, but at least it's not mid-November where holidays mean hiring falls off the rails.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#62

Post by gusmally »

krzaG wrote: post #47

It is hard to tell what this company does, but it seems to be involved in bitcoin. Coincidentally we have had a huge drop in bitcoin in the last months. I don't buy anything this weirdo says.

Square payment processing?

Re: Layoffs at Block

#64

Post by hokumguru »

I'm still not sure I quite agree with this AI replacement premise.

Assuming the premise of profitability and a sound business then this sounds like a failure of product if anything. It just doesn't follow for me that when you see more productive teams the immediate answer is that you need less people. Especially for silicon valley types this seems antithetical to scaling.

Thinking of it in two ways

- Yes you could (in theory but I still argue not 100%) cut workforce and have a smaller # of people do the work that everyone else was doing

Or

- You could keep your people, who are ostensibly more productive with AI, and get even more work done

Why would you ever choose the first?

Re: Layoffs at Block

#66

Post by jcgrillo »

mattbillenstein wrote: post #30
htrp wrote: post #5

>we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but something has changed. we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build an…

Even if the AI piece isn't really true - smaller flatter teams will move faster anyway. I always wonder having worked in a lot of startups with 10-50ppl, what on earth a business does with 10000.

They're still a megacorp, roughly, with like 6k people remaining. That's a huge company. Huge companies need hierarchy to function, the "flat" thing is a really dumb idea. There's no way to make it analogous to that <50ppl team that executes well and moves fast. To do that you actually need to have a small company.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#68

Post by triceratops »

peanuty1 wrote: post #54
triceratops wrote: post #24

The headline numbers: They're cutting 40% (edit: the post actually says "nearly half") of the workforce (4k out of 10k). That's huge. The severance is 20 weeks of pay + 1 week per year of tenure, stock vesting through May, 6 months of healthcare, their corporate devices, and $5k cash.

They're going from over 10k employees to just under 6k. So more than 40%.

Ah yeah, that's fair. The post itself says "nearly half".

Re: Layoffs at Block

#69

Post by gusmally »

skwirl wrote: post #57

We’re reaching “Don’t Look Up” levels of denial about the impact of AI on this site.

For real. Very worried about when other CEOs follow suit and there is a flood of people into unemployment.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#70

Post by operatingthetan »

Swizec wrote: post #36
t-writescode wrote: post #28

Nice severance; but in this job market, holy shit. Yeah, you get 5 months of severance and a bunch of devices and such; but, does this CEO really think these employees will find new work in that time? In this job market? If the profits are still up and growing, why on earth would you evict 40% of the company, to send them into this job market? Why not … try new industries, play around, try to become the next Mitsubis…

> Nice severance; but in this job market, holy shit. I just talked to a bunch of recruiters (we're hiring) and their main piece of advice was: The market is crazy. Move fast . We're seeing people getting jobs within days of starting to look, bailing on offers after signing because they got a better offer somewhere else, etc. 24 hours is the longest you can leave a candidate waiting. You have been warned edit: I am in…

It seems like the tech job market is exactly the opposite of this right now? Could you be more specific?
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