Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

newsroom.spotify.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 495 posts

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#181

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

MAGZine wrote: post #163
gfdsgfsdgfs wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unions often have coasters and quiet quitters. As an experienced developer I would never work with people like that.

you'd rather work harder and for less money than work with people who phone it in? I don't really buy the meritocracy argument that 'good devs get paid more'. It hasn't really panned out in my experience, except for less than 1%, probably closer to .1% of devs who are really, truly exceptional AND will fight aggressively for their keep.

I would rather, yes. Working with people who phone it in means my projects will unpredictably grind to a halt for weeks, and getting them to work at all requires an obnoxious and overbearing management style that I really don't enjoy being around. I don't think it's wrong to be a "phone it in" person, they're just trying to earn a living so they can focus on what they care about, but that doesn't mean I want to work with them.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#182

Post by nsxwolf »

disruptiveink wrote: post #177
nytesky wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The layoffs aren’t about actually saving the cost of those specific employees. Instead, the threat of being laid off is being used as a stick to bring the remaining employees in line — productivity has been lower the last few years, and leadership has no real way to measure on an individual level or how to improve it, so putting the pressure on employees is a tried and true tactics. Further, they can make lower TC of…

Pretty sure layoffs decrease productivity of the remaining employees, unless you're a H-1B visa worker, no one "works harder" after layoffs. Morale is low, resentment over "now I have to do X as well" grows and productivity gets hit.

I don't stay after a big round of layoffs for the same reason I'd rather buy stocks when they look like they're going up, not down.

The company is signaling that it is not doing well - why shouldn't I leave for a company that is doing well?

The only way I'll stay is if you want me to be part of a real plan to turn things around. And my involvement in that has to be rewarded - not just at the successful end of that process, but immediately.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#184

Post by mjr00 »

woeirua wrote: post #164

This is an unpopular opinion, but history from the DotCom crash tells us that the layoffs are just getting started. Turns out you can’t run at a loss forever, and when the going gets rough the fastest way to increase profitability is to cut costs. Say what you will about Elon and Twitter, but he definitely proved that the majority of the engineers at Twitter were adding no value to the company. That is probably true…

I don't think "the majority of the engineers at Twitter were adding no value to the company" is a fair statement: one because it's not clear that it was the majority, two because it wasn't necessarily "no value" as much as "not as much value as other product areas", and three because it wasn't just engineering, it's product managers, sales, marketing, community managers, everyone.

That being said I do think Elon's bold moves at Twitter sent a shock through the industry. It made executives reevaluate their company's business strategies and if the non-core-business functions actually even made sense. Why is Google making a cloud gaming service, much less funding a video game studio? Why is Twitter employing people to debunk climate change? Why is Amazon employing a team of people to write jokes for their unprofitable smart home device?

Corporate bloat has been common forever, but it's been especially common over the past decade with zero interest rates. There's been basically zero focus on expenses and 100% focus on growth at all costs.

Scary part is we might just be getting started. Maybe we will see 50% cuts at Google/Meta/Amazon by the end of the year.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#186

Post by phamilton4 »

disruptiveink wrote: post #177
nytesky wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The layoffs aren’t about actually saving the cost of those specific employees. Instead, the threat of being laid off is being used as a stick to bring the remaining employees in line — productivity has been lower the last few years, and leadership has no real way to measure on an individual level or how to improve it, so putting the pressure on employees is a tried and true tactics. Further, they can make lower TC of…

Pretty sure layoffs decrease productivity of the remaining employees, unless you're a H-1B visa worker, no one "works harder" after layoffs. Morale is low, resentment over "now I have to do X as well" grows and productivity gets hit.

This is my main point from personal experience. I worked at a company that had almost yearly layoffs (caused by a late transition to the online world and competition). I knew whole teams that were reduced to a single person. Now that person has to do support 24x7, new feature requests, general information requests etc. Thank god I did not have to deal with that. Also it's very difficult to hire when people know the company is/has been doing layoffs.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#187

Post by baby-yoda »

phamilton4 wrote: post #127

I get needing to keep a company lean and that businesses operate to make money... But most of these recent layoffs really make me feel uneasy. Spotify is a little different because AFAIK they are still operating at a negative net income, but still let's take a look at this. They're going to let go 600 people.. that's maybe an annual 90 million in savings (150k salary). The company's revenue is about 9 billion with -3…

Broadly speaking, my opinion is alot of businesses are getting the feeling that the next 6-12 months are going to be bad. Layoffs, decreased consumer spending, rates continuing to rise, banks tightening with lending, ad spending dries up. A vicious cycle is starting to accelerate. Some companies are just going to follow the trend, sure, but I just think there is probably alot of internal data suggesting a slowdown and its too much to ignore.

Spotify in particular, their revenue is Ads and subscriptions. Consumers can very easily cut a streaming subscription if money starts to dry up, same with companies purchasing ad space. They do have lots of cash on hand so I don't think they are anywhere near risk of going bankrupt. I'm curious to see their earnings release next week and any changes in cash flow.

Another thing to consider is the opportunity cost of spending 90 million, there might be other internal priorities in the short term like acquisitions or paying down debt that supersede any potential "brain drain". Not to downplay the layoffs of course but the dynamic of competing priorities and larger headwinds is just difficult to navigate.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#188

Post by honeybadger1 »

popularrecluse wrote: post #158
paulcole wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can be OK funding differing points of view but not OK funding a specific differing point of view.

We just live in a world now where propagating false and dangerous misinformation is merely offering a differing point of view. We were happy to let subject-matter experts help build the modern world, but then turn on them as we seek out the information that comports with the way we wish the world to be. It's good to be skeptical, but a very significant portion of the population has serious epistemic deficiencies.

I am not interested in engaging on identity politics.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#189

Post by LanceH »

eigen-vector wrote: post #169
shmatt wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very naive to think these huge orgs don't have dead weight which is much bigger than 6%. If you start figuring some of your moonshot ideas aren't hitting their OKR's, you have a few options: * Just let them keep doing whatever without delivering what they claim they can * Create new moonshots for them just because * Move them to other products, but that doesn't mean they'll create more value as an org with (now)…

Presumably they already have performance processes that eliminate "dead weight". Be assured that layoffs never really mean that usual performance bases firings are paused. It's pretty much always happening on top of existing performance processes.

Layoffs like this mean you can blame external forces like the economy rather than saying, "our projects failed".

Some of these layoffs may have been coming anyway, but not the corporate statement about them is different.

Re: Spotify reducing employee base by about 6%

#190

Post by leanstartupnoob »

horns4lyfe wrote: post #111
ttrrooppeerr wrote: post #7

[flagged]

Just a quick glance at his podcast shows his last 5 guests: famous comedian, ancient civilization researcher, wildlife conservationist, UFC fighter. The horror! Please don’t venture out of whatever bubble you live in or you might find some podcasts there you REALLY disagree with, and you clearly don’t do well with that. I mean honestly, the guys not even a political commentator, just has opinions that are occasionall…

Yes, and of those last 5 guests: At least one is an infamous sexual predator who forced his female staff into non-consensual masturbation sessions.

The "researcher" mainly promote conspiracy theories about the lost city of Atlantis.

Post reply on HN