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Layoffs at Block

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Re: Layoffs at Block

#251

Post by zmjone2992 »

mgfist wrote: post #185
overfeed wrote: post #116

> i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. I hope this gets drilled into the heads of everyone who sells their labor. The company is profitable, and Jack could have kept 4000 people employed with no difference in outcome, instead, he chose this.

Block isn't a jobs program, and employees cost money. Layoffs suck (I got laid off last year) but the reality is that it's a business and regardless of profitability, if you're not worth more than your salary you're a liability. The severance given is quite generous and fair. My biggest issue is that Block should never have grown so big in the first place.

yea but layoffs aren't usually very performance based. i agree in general though.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#252

Post by getnormality »

I wonder what folks on 2009 Hacker News would have said if a company announced layoffs.

Would the top comments have been questioning it, telling the CEO what he should have done instead, worrying about how hard it would be for those people in today's economy?

Re: Layoffs at Block

#253

Post by Sparkle-san »

paxys wrote: post #101

Square/Block stock peaked at $273 in Feb 2021 and is currently at $54. Taking away the Covid bubble the stock has been completely flat since 2018, almost 8 years, while the S&P 500 returned nearly 200% in that same period. So I'm not buying the whole "the company is doing great! The layoff is just because of AI."

Feb 2021 was peak covid tech bubble stemming from ZIRP. There are a number of companies that hit highs during that period that they'll likely never see again (or for quite some time) despite being profitable.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#254

Post by senko »

This is one of the best (if not the best) layoff letters I've seen online (no affiliation, don't know anyone working there, purely outsider perspective).

* Severance packages upfront because realistically that's what everyone worries about first.

* Reasoning second. I appreciate the one clean cut vs prolonged bleeding.

* Owning the decision and respecting the people that got you there. Opting for an awkward allhands vs breakup-via-text-message.

* Giving people a chance to say goodbye.

Not gonna go into strategic analysis of this, or Jack's leadership style in general.

But realistically, you can't pen a better (or, well, less bad) layoff announcement.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#255

Post by jagged-chisel »

daxfohl wrote: post #48

We'll see how much the AI aspect is true by whether they're thinning out teams equally, or just axing whole initiatives. My impression of Block was that it was mostly a one-trick pony (okay, two if you include CashApp) with a bunch of side initiatives that never seemed to pan out, so I'm expecting it to be more of the latter, with this being more of an admission that they're now in "maintenance mode". Either way, I t…

> … using the AI to make their own lives easier rather than to work more efficiently.

These are not mutually exclusive. How does making my “own [work life] easier” not translate into “work more efficiently.”

Re: Layoffs at Block

#256

Post by project2501a »

hellojesus wrote: post #208
mathattack wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40% actually seems reasonable for a flip into maintenance mode. That’s what PE firms do when then buy cash cow businesses. Dramatically cut engineering on new functionality, cut back on sales and marketing, remove all redundancy in operations. Anyone who has counted on a vendor that went private or was bought by a rollup firm has felt this pain. Better to do it all at once than repeated declines.

I first entered the workforce at IBM and several months later they did layoffs (resource action). Every six months after that for my 6ish year tenure there were more resource actions. To this day I walk into the office each morning thinking today may be the day I get laid off. My wife doesn't think it's a healthy mentality, but I'm not sure I know another path of life. This is to say at least it's done in one fell sw…

> but I'm not sure I know another path of life.

Unionize.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#257

Post by darth_avocado »

Ancalagon wrote: post #94
toast0 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Just wondering, have you been unemployed for 6+ mos before?

Everyone is an atheist until the plane starts crashing.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#258

Post by linkregister »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #145
tempest_ wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also solves an exclusively American problem. In my country anyone can send money bank to bank, no need for a separate service.

Absolutely, most of this is private corporate duct tape over a lack of Pix (Brazil), UPI (India), Instant SEPA (Europe), etc [1]. “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” [2] In a US financial services market, Venmo and CashApp are unnecessary assuming you procure a deposit account from a bank or credit union with instant payment rails access [3] [4].…

Zelle has a transfer limit of $1000 per day and has a bad user interface.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#259

Post by dmboyd »

QGQBGdeZREunxLe wrote: post #236
paxys wrote: post #101

Square/Block stock peaked at $273 in Feb 2021 and is currently at $54. Taking away the Covid bubble the stock has been completely flat since 2018, almost 8 years, while the S&P 500 returned nearly 200% in that same period. So I'm not buying the whole "the company is doing great! The layoff is just because of AI."

We know they're not... > In its fiscal fourth quarter, Block reported revenue of almost $6.3bn, in line with Wall Street expectations. Its earnings tumbled to 19 cents a share, owing to a $234mn hit — or 38 cents a share — on its bitcoin holdings.

Yea, look over there!!! AI.

(Don’t mention the bitcoin investment that’s in the shitter)

Re: Layoffs at Block

#260

Post by camdenreslink »

jcims wrote: post #60
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…

>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? To avoid laying them off in next year's job market. Dripping a 10% cut every year for the next four years when you *know* that you're going to do it is cowardice.

Nobody can know they will need to lay off 10% multiple years from now. So many things can change between now and then.

For all Block knows, AI for coding kind of plateaus where it is now and there is a huge boom in software engineer hiring taking advantage of the new tech to produce even more/better features.

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