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Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

blog.dropbox.com

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Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#241

Post by hshshshshsh »

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…

You can make money by either reducing head count or coming up with plans that involves generating more money with existing workforce.

Obviously you as a CEO failed at doing second.

Now question is do you fire yourself and try to get a better CEO or you choose to fire 20% and generate more profits.

If it's up to the workforce they probably choose to fire CEO. But if it's upto the CEO he choose to fire the 20%.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#242

Post by mv4 »

hylaride wrote: post #197
mv4 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The setup leading to that phrase... brilliant.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#243

Post by jumping_frog »

a0123 wrote: post #168
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…

> Jokes aside, how do you end up having more than 500 excess people than what you need? There never is an excess amount of workers (sure, there probably are 4-5 exceptions). What happens is that they need those employees, but instead are going to demand that the employees that are left pick up the slack. Which they will because they need a roof over their head. Those companies are merely cutting costs, they don't act…

Maybe they developed all the features they thought were necessary and now can manage the features with less workforce.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#244

Post by bhouston »

andygcook wrote: post #208

For context, Drew Houston's total compensation for the year in 2023 was $1.5M: > According to our data, Dropbox, Inc. ... paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$1.5m over the year to December 2023. That's a notable increase of 34% on last year via https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-dropbox-inc-nasdaq-... Even if Drew took minimum wage, that would save ~15 jobs assuming $100K all-in comp (which seems lo…

> Drew Houston's total compensation for the year in 2023 was $1.5M

That is insanely low for the CEO of a public company of Dropbox's size. But I suspect he owned a lot of shares in the company so when it went public, so he doesn't need salary, it is just a rounding error in terms of his wealth.

EDIT: Yeah, he is worth $2B according to Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/profile/drew-houston/

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#245

Post by rurp »

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…

Taking a hit on their giant salary seems completely reasonable to me. Having skin in the game makes people perform better in all sorts of cases, and I don't see why a CEO would be different.

Do you also object to sales reps or athletes making less money after a long period of performing poorly?

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#246

Post by coldpie »

yieldcrv wrote: post #14
skwee357 wrote: post #6

Being sorry - check Takes full responsibility - check Layoffs are still there

how would you like the next CEO to handle it, for reference?

They should make whole those affected, as best as possible. The CEO, who is the responsible party by their own declaration, should distribute their personal wealth to those affected until all parties have approximately the same amount of wealth.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#247

Post by [deleted] »

marcelsalathe wrote: post #81
pizzathyme wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Agreed. But just say that. No need to pretend taking responsibility, which is defined as facing consequences when things go bad. “As CEO, I’m truly sorry to those impacted. But I strongly believe that this change is what is needed now to make sure Dropbox can thrive in the future.”

[deleted]

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#248

Post by randomdata »

vundercind wrote: post #101
pizzathyme wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think it's an outlet for general frustration with the justification for high executive compensation (and returns on capital, for that matter) often being "they have much more responsibility and risk" when the actual downside is typically nonexistent, and even if there are consequences, the outcome is something like "LOL still richer than any ten of you combined will ever be", i.e. the "risk" is all fake.

> "they have much more responsibility and risk"

Perhaps you've misinterpreted that statement? It is the board that takes on greater risk with executives as compared to other employees. The executives are given the keys to the kingdom, which means only an exceedingly small group of trusted individuals can be considered for the job. By the transitive properties of supply and demand, when supply is limited, price goes up.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#249

Post by yalogin »

I don’t know how but over time all the “new fangled” tech companies have the same approach to hiring. They just keep growing headcount as its own workstream. Google started it I think, their HR just interviews and grabs the talent without a need. Matching employees to a role that already got hired to a company is just insane. That is the reason why I never interview with anyone that wants to do a generic hire. These HR folks are purely assessed on how many they hire and so they keep hiring.

This just makes me respect the old school processes that apple and nvidia follow that much more. They are the best run companies in tech

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#250

Post by toomuchtodo »

bluedino wrote: post #214
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…

Most companies have a bunch of people who are literally doing nothing.

Conversely, I also know folks where everyone is redlining in the org because they cut deep and folks who can leave are able to leave for equivalent or better roles. The market isn't great, but it isn't 1999-2000 or 2007-2009 either.

If you want another job, make it a job to find it, and you will eventually find it.

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