As a laborer, if I have a choice between a world where golden handcuffs exist and world where they don't, I choose the world where golden handcuffs exist. Presumably the idea is they will be forced to make work better to retain employees instead and it will a net win for workers, but there's zero details or explanation as to how exactly that will happen.
Golden Handcuffs
21–30 of 274 posts
Re: Golden Handcuffs
#22One of the things that I love about working for Netflix is that they just pay you every 2 weeks and that's basically it. There are no RSUs that are stacking up, no yearly bonus, etc. No smoke and mirrors. No internal websites to calculate the value of your compensation like at Google.
I remember how much trouble the yearly bonuses caused when I worked at Google. In the fall, some people would become much less active and turn from top performers into dead wood while they hung around, waiting for the yearly bonus payout in Jan.
Re: Golden Handcuffs
#23I've talked to two FAANG-level recruiters recently about remote openings, which are all the rage now.
One was willing to give a base-salary range but absolutely refused to provide any comp information beyond that. Signing bonus? Equity? "We are still working out those numbers for remote employees, we'll negotiate when we give you an offer"
The other - everyone at the same level at the same location gets the same comp and the same equity, here it is.
Guess which one I'm willing to pursue. These days the whole process of doing a tech interview is grueling, between the 'leet' coding practice, the take-home assignments, the 4-8 separate interviews. If they think I'm putting myself through all that without some guarantee of a considerable pay raise, they're crazy.
I don't think "wait til we get you the offer" is going to work much longer for a lot of companies. Not unless they go back to the old-fashioned "tell us about yourself" interviews, which would be quite a relief but I don't see happening anytime soon.
Re: Golden Handcuffs
#24Coinbase is an interesting company. They're grossly underrated and laughed off as an online casino, but they invest all that money they make very wisely and strategically to grow the business. I find another paragraph from that press release interesting: > Traditionally people expect they need to negotiate for the best package after being hired in a new job. Those that do this well tend to be rewarded, and those that…
This reads to me like when you talk to a used car salesman and the first thing he says is, "We don't negotiate on price."
When someone you have a semi-adversarial relationship with removes your ability to negotiate, they aren't doing so in your favor.
Re: Golden Handcuffs
#25The C-level to IC comp ratio is still way too astronomical. If a VC is telling you he feels there’s a better way to comp, he has a financial interest in ensuring your loss. Do not support investor-focused comp models like backweighted vesting (Amazon) or outright fraud like a start-up giving you a stock offer with no percentage or no 409A. Employees deserve high-quality equity on par with investors. The OP’s suggesti…
I feel like we should have PSAs on LinkedIn that tell you this every time you mark yourself as 'looking':
If the Board and/or the VCs ever get uncomfortable with the % of the company that is owned by ICs, they will just print more shares of stock.
And don't get me started on preferred shares. Has any IC ever gotten those?
Re: Golden Handcuffs
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Always ask for a non-diluatable percentage early on.
It’s reasonable to ask “what percentage does this represent on a fully-diluted basis?” It is entirely unreasonable to ask for a percentage of the company which can never be diluted by a future fund-raising round. Doing so just telegraphs that you don’t know how venture funding/corporate finance works.
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Re: Golden Handcuffs
#27Coinbase is an interesting company. They're grossly underrated and laughed off as an online casino, but they invest all that money they make very wisely and strategically to grow the business. I find another paragraph from that press release interesting: > Traditionally people expect they need to negotiate for the best package after being hired in a new job. Those that do this well tend to be rewarded, and those that…
All this is telling me (someone who cares about negotiation) to avoid Coinbase.
Re: Golden Handcuffs
#28I've talked to two FAANG-level recruiters recently about remote openings, which are all the rage now. One was willing to give a base-salary range but absolutely refused to provide any comp information beyond that. Signing bonus? Equity? "We are still working out those numbers for remote employees, we'll negotiate when we give you an offer" The other - everyone at the same level at the same location gets the same comp…
> we'll work it out when [we] give you an offer
Maybe I'm a cynic, or I've read too many books with a powerful cabal that lies while telling the truth.
But one interpretation of these words is that you are going to be a test subject in that 'work it out' activity.
Re: Golden Handcuffs
#29The problem is unless you hold onto the stock, you are not tied to the long-term growth of the company.
I think this is really trying to optimize to keep only the high performers without having to have a traditional stack ranking system.
Interestingly, I recall the Google article about the highest performing teams not being made up of the highest performing individuals, but the best communicators. No one seems to be trying to hire to create the best teams, but still just the highest performing individuals. Perhaps there is a Moneyball in tech work.
Re: Golden Handcuffs
#30I've talked to two FAANG-level recruiters recently about remote openings, which are all the rage now. One was willing to give a base-salary range but absolutely refused to provide any comp information beyond that. Signing bonus? Equity? "We are still working out those numbers for remote employees, we'll negotiate when we give you an offer" The other - everyone at the same level at the same location gets the same comp…
The only way to know your value in the market is to get multiple offers and then negotiate against them. You'll do much worse if you just pursue one option, especially the option where they tell you that everyone gets the same (low) pay.