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Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

blog.dropbox.com

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Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#191

Post by insane_dreamer »

kiba wrote: post #134
insane_dreamer wrote: post #71

[flagged]

It's like how in the US we lament how the government can't afford to take proper care of its citizens (you know, basic things like universal healthcare, education, etc.) while spending $750B a year on the military. It's not the government can't afford, it's that we aren't willing to allocate. The US is an incredibly wealthy country after all. We can unlock even more wealth if there's political will to fix how we do u…

That last paragraph could have been taken directly out of the defense contractor lobbyist handbook. Congratulations.

Seriously -- we don't have military commitments to "underpin the global order". We have military commitments to "protect our political and economic interests" -- and who do those benefit? The American people? Nah, not really. But the American people are the ones footing the bill for it, choosing to reduce our own quality of life in order to exert power over other nations (and invade them at will).

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#192

Post by a0123 »

pizzathyme wrote: post #43
lifeisgood99 wrote: post #2

"As CEO, I take full responsibility for this decision" Oh hey another one that takes responsibility by taking on 0 consequences.

Unpopular opinion, but I don't understand this type of comment. It sounds like people want executives to get some kind of punishment or pain as a consequence of laying people off. But what would that even look like? A fine? That would probably make no practical difference, and would discourage them from making changes that need to be made. Fire them? Then you would probably get a worse decision maker in the driver se…

"Unpopular opinion", sure, how brave of you.

Simple: they sure love to talk a big game about responsibilities and taking responsibilities. Until it's time to actually do it. For the good of the company of course (if the company is in such dire straits, as the most highly paid employee - and probably not the hardest working one - why don't you take a big pay cut? For the good of the company of course).

That's what people don't take well.

It's amazing this still has to be explained.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#193

Post by lokar »

krisoft wrote: post #167
recroad wrote: post #44

TIL that nobody knows what they're doing. Jokes aside, how do you end up having more than 500 excess people than what you need? What is management exactly doing during the time they went from 1 excess person to 500? Did they just hope the "macroeconomic headwinds" would become tailwinds? Didn't they at some point see that they have more people than valuable work, and maybe we should deal with that problem instead of…

> What is management exactly doing during the time they went from 1 excess person to 500? It is usually not the case that these people are standing around and doing nothing. It is more that they are working on initiatives and projects which the company is discontinuing now. When the company has a lot of money investors expect them to spend some of it in finding new directions and opportunities. It's not all just spen…

Also, factors like quality, maintainability, performance, etc are open ended and hard to measure. So teams tend to just keep improving them. Some amount is critical, some is important, some is nice to have and some is just excess.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#194

Post by artyom »

recroad wrote: post #44

TIL that nobody knows what they're doing. Jokes aside, how do you end up having more than 500 excess people than what you need? What is management exactly doing during the time they went from 1 excess person to 500? Did they just hope the "macroeconomic headwinds" would become tailwinds? Didn't they at some point see that they have more people than valuable work, and maybe we should deal with that problem instead of…

In my experience a lot of hiring in those big or publicly traded companies is to "build the structure to get promoted".

When you're big, investors and banks and auditors don't like flat structures with a lot of individual contributors. A vertical structure is a must to go public. The rest is people playing the game they're forced into.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#195

Post by siliconc0w »

elric wrote: post #90

I'm always a bit confused by profitable companies with (presumably) large reserves laying off lots of people. I get that they want to remain profitable. But sure 500ish people could be put to some use? A new product, a new market, a spinoff. Whatever? Are you telling me that no one in such a big, wealthy company of clever engineers has any use for a bunch of talented people?

I'm a libertarian in most things but I still don't like layoffs from profitable companies.

Like it's probably not good for our society that people have to up end their life every few years and probably move to find a new job.

Both my parents stayed in the same job for their careers and it meant they could stay in the same place, have kids, build ties to the community, etc. Seems important if you want to not die out as a society.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#196

Post by l33t7332273 »

triceratops wrote: post #96
kiba wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People make mistakes all the time, hopefully it's mistakes they learn from. You can't simply fire someone for being incompetent, unless it's so bad and beyond the pale.

> You can't simply fire someone for being incompetent Lmao what? Outside of being absolutely skint and unable to make payroll, that's pretty much the only reason to fire someone (I mean other than misconduct, which is also a type of incompetence)

The other reason to fire them is that their services are no linger needed (ie a layoff)

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#197

Post by hylaride »

mv4 wrote: post #33
lifeisgood99 wrote: post #2

"As CEO, I take full responsibility for this decision" Oh hey another one that takes responsibility by taking on 0 consequences.

Remember Gavin Belson? "But make no mistake. Though they're the ones leaving, it is I who must remain and bear the heavy burden of their failure."

Was that the same scene where he said "Their failure is my fault...for trusting them."?

I just about had to change my underwear after that scene.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#199

Post by harimau777 »

aprilthird2021 wrote: post #114
BossingAround wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? 16 weeks of salary, or 4 months of pay. In my country, you get 3 months of pay as standard when you're fired from your job. Doesn't seem that great to me to be honest.

In big tech in the US, 4 months is usually enough to find another similar job in the industry. Also in the US for mass layoffs at big firms, the minimum is effectively 2 months because you are required by law to give 2 months notice to workers about such layoffs, 2 months severance is a way to not have to give such notice.

In this market, 4 months definitely isn't enough to find a similar job.
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