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Patreon laying off 20% of staff

patreon.com

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Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#201

Post by [deleted] »

ryandrake wrote: post #105
codegeek wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a founder/CEO myself (a very small company so I don't have experience of mass layoffs for full disclosure). However, I don't get this explanation. If you feel genuine responsibility for the people, then figure out a way to NOT fire them. Or be honest and admit that the company needs to make more money/cut costs. Trust me, no one wants to hear "we love you so much but we have to fire you and I feel so bad". It ju…

It reminds me of that meme template. “I feel responsible for this layoff.” “Responsible enough to mitigate it or lay yourself off?” “Well, no, not that responsible…”

[deleted]

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#202

Post by vladms »

jbellis wrote: post #125
codegeek wrote: post #42

The only possible positive thing out of this cringy article is that the severance is decent (for a US company). 4 months of pay and healthcare coverage through Year end. Everything else could have just been a couple of sentences. Companies need to stop doing this melodrama every time they decide to fire people. Everyone knows the goal is to make money and keep a company profitable for their shareholders. Why these me…

Apparently this is an unpopular opinion on HN, but a job isn't an output that companies produce, it's an agreement to compensate an employee in exchange for services, and just as the CEO shouldn't take it personally when one leaves to go work elsewhere, nobody needs to act like it's some kind of invidious social contract violation when the company no longer needs some of those services. In other words: resignation an…

I think depends on the culture/country.

In the US definitely the agreements are more flexible.

In Europe (and probably elsewhere) I feel that the expectation was (at least some years ago) that once you join a company the relation is stronger.

Each variation has pluses and minuses, for companies and individuals.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#203

Post by ponector »

buellerbueller wrote: post #178
roenxi wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The paradox can be resolved by assuming they are fallible and limited human beings - they're laying a bunch of people off, they understand at some level that this is evidence that their poor hiring and management decisions have caused some amount of unnecessary suffering, so they feel bad. But they aren't foresighted enough to have handled the situation appropriately in advance . Or they might have run into the limit…

>In many ways it is a triumph of modern society how ordinary the people are who head these large and complicated world-spanning corporate entities. But I was told that CEOs were descended from Mount Olympus itself! Billionaires too!

And trillionaires are directly shipped from Mars!

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#204

Post by [deleted] »

linkjuice4all wrote: post #143
stronglikedan wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an illogical and unrealistic meme template that is...

Yes, much like the “we’re all family but we’re reducing headcount by…” Treat people like professionals: admit that you did a bad job but that you’d rather protect yourself and not give up any of your salary/benefits and instead you are going to layoff your “family”.

[deleted]

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#205

Post by keiferski »

buellerbueller wrote: post #198
keiferski wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hardly think expressing some understanding of the position of a company owner makes me a fan of Ayn Rand. And just a tip: many of your comments seem to belong on reddit, not here. Different culture, where short obnoxious takes aren't welcome.

brevity is the soul of wit, brah, but you seem allergic to both. my point, if you insist on me being long-winded about it, was to make an allusion to the fact that you have a positively Randian take on employee-employer relations, where CEOs/founders/owners can do no wrong, and employes are merely "bitter" obstacles that must be dealt with in order for former to receive that which is due to the morally superior. perh…

No, that isn't what I said at all, and again – writing short, trollish comments is not really what HN is about.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#206

Post by buellerbueller »

keiferski wrote: post #205
buellerbueller wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

brevity is the soul of wit, brah, but you seem allergic to both. my point, if you insist on me being long-winded about it, was to make an allusion to the fact that you have a positively Randian take on employee-employer relations, where CEOs/founders/owners can do no wrong, and employes are merely "bitter" obstacles that must be dealt with in order for former to receive that which is due to the morally superior. perh…

No, that isn't what I said at all, and again – writing short, trollish comments is not really what HN is about.

in my opinion, your version of what HN "is really about" is corrosive to the planet and should be called to account by those who are within it.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#207

Post by keiferski »

chrisss395 wrote: post #103

I see others mentioning the severance package being decent for a US company. I'm glad they received something, but I'm sorry, can we stop calling this decent? It's markedly lopsided when a company can one day decide to lay off a large portion of their workforce and think 4 months is anywhere near acceptable. The average time to find a new job is significantly longer, especially depending on role and seniority. I'm ti…

I once worked for a company for 3 years, and during layoffs was offered... to work until the end of the month, and be paid for that. With no severance afterward.

4 months is not bad.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#208

Post by dewey »

UmYeahNo wrote: post #191
dewey wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like reduce the salary of the c-suite staff by 50% Perfect way to lose your staff to your competitor.

Let 'em have em. They already messed up this company, let them go mess up the competition now. Sounds like a plan. Encourage the lowest performers to go.

There's perfectly fine reasons for a company to fail that are not the fault of anyone working there. Small startups relying on revenue from a bigger client at the beginning that shifts their spend, market changing quickly etc.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#209

Post by jmholla »

WarmWash wrote: post #170
ryandrake wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understand these replies. Has nobody ever worked for a medium sized, yet global-reach company? I think a lot of HN has a very narrow view of how many different roles are required to run a company bigger than a local diner. Feels like a weird confirmation bias where “I only see a dozen engineers around me every day, therefore companies only need engineers to function.”

Elon cut 80% of twitter staff and...well it's still there. Every tech CEO was watching that closely, and it didn't come out in the workers favor.

Twitter is nothing like it used to be.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#210

Post by vanuatu »

dylan604 wrote: post #129
codegeek wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a founder/CEO myself (a very small company so I don't have experience of mass layoffs for full disclosure). However, I don't get this explanation. If you feel genuine responsibility for the people, then figure out a way to NOT fire them. Or be honest and admit that the company needs to make more money/cut costs. Trust me, no one wants to hear "we love you so much but we have to fire you and I feel so bad". It ju…

> then figure out a way to NOT fire them like reduce the salary of the c-suite staff by 50% so they are only making 300% more than the average workers. or reduce c-suite salary to the lowest wage while allowing them to live off of their stock and other benefits like company cars, expense accounts, etc. granted, that's for the larger companies, but the bigger companies never do anything like that

if a company is doing poorly enough to lay off people the c suite has already taken drastic pay cuts from their stock compensation
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