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The Broken Microsoft Pact: Layoffs and Performance Management

danielsada.tech

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Re: The Broken Microsoft Pact: Layoffs and Performance Management

#101

Post by sarchertech »

wenc wrote: post #97
beisner wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think OP is speaking about people who have 5x or more than their current salary in equities, where even a 50% temporary drop in assets will have no meaningful effect in lifestyle (and a long-term 50% drop in S&P would be apocalyptic, bigger fish to fry).

I think that's a bet that is contingent upon not getting laid off for more than a year during a period when there is 20-30% drawdown. If that happens, then any growth differential between equities and SPAXX's 4% is going to be wiped out -- in which case it was better to have stayed with SPAXX which offers liquidity and modest but stable growth at near zero risk. It's not a sure win rule. A better strategy is to hedge…

>A better strategy is to hedge (bet maybe 3 months of your 1 year emergency runway), but that requires some acumen.

Yeah that’s what I was suggesting when I said you don’t need keep your entire 1 year emergency fund in low risk investments (assuming you have much more than a year of runway).

Re: The Broken Microsoft Pact: Layoffs and Performance Management

#102

Post by rbanffy »

hackthemack wrote: post #24

I wish people were not so adverse to unions. The company will never be your friend. You will almost never have much leverage over what the company wants to do. The information you have will most likely be very asymmetrical to what the company has insight into, putting you at a disadvantage. Unions are imperfect. Unions will have its own inside politics. You will pay a union fee. I think humans are fundamentally flawe…

> If they have to pay a union, they will not see all the benefits, and only focus on the 50 dollar union fee.

This is the worst part of averting disaster - people never see you fixed something before it became a problem. That's why there are so many "disaster-driven organizations" out there, where the people who prevents disasters gets passed over by the people who often provoke them in order to be the hero that fixes the problem.

Re: The Broken Microsoft Pact: Layoffs and Performance Management

#103

Post by nh23423fefe »

ChromaticPanic wrote: post #98
sershe wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, look at union successes like dockworkers holding economy hostage via a legalized monopoly, while having more striking non-working members long useless due to automation than actual workers! I sure aspire to work in an industry like that. Or like teachers in new York getting paid to sit in the rubber room as union fights for months to defend them after chronic drinking at work. I miss my beers in my terrible non…

I've always wondered how much one has to lick the boot until they stop tasting leather. Or maybe it's an acquired taste.

Join this guys union.

Re: The Broken Microsoft Pact: Layoffs and Performance Management

#104

Post by BehindBlueEyes »

int_19h wrote: post #35
Havoc wrote: post #5

> But something shifted. The powers that be realized an anxiety riddle fearful workforce can get stuff done too just fine as long as they don’t have a better option and you dangle the occasional carrot. So as long as all corporations move roughly in lockstep you can drastically change conditions without much consequences It’s a bit like the first big news website implementing a paywall was outrageous and deemed suici…

There will be consequences, they'll just take some time to set in. But morale is in the gutter across the company now, and a lot of people who would previously go above and beyond to maintain some level of software quality have thrown in the towel now, since this last round of layoffs, by virtue of who was targeted, very clearly demonstrated that the company doesn't actually care about any of that one bit, and the so…

There were already too few people for the tasks before this round of layoffs. The working order has been "do more with less, use AI" for over a year.

Every MS FTE whom I knew enough to have that kind of conversation with was stretched thin to the breaking point. Now half their team is gone, and the show must go on apparently. It does not seem viable to me, not even with AI.

Re: The Broken Microsoft Pact: Layoffs and Performance Management

#105

Post by throwaheyy »

ballmersucker wrote: post #15
dshacker wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I was afraid of generalizing throughout the company. I think compared to other companies it seems to have a benefit of being more "nice". Maybe it's mostly targeted towards tech roles at that?

You thought MS was "nice"? WTF were you smoking?

Been at MS 15 years, the unspoken “pact” is truthful.
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