Layoffs and Loyalty in a Liquid Valley • Hacker News Board

Re: Layoffs and Loyalty in a Liquid Valley

#31

Post by peoplelovelines » Mon, Oct 19, 2015, 3:02 AM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #22

maxxxxx wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. I have seen people coming in to work in the morning and their badges didn't work anymore. They had to negotiate with security to be allowed to get their personal stuff from their desk.

God, that's sick. First world country my ass.

Meh, if they get severance equal to whatever other countries get, I much prefer the US system. Give people 4-6 weeks of pay but don't require (or allow) them in the office. It seems like it makes sense from the company's perspective to remove their access immediately, right? Of course, no one should find out by their badge not working...

Edit: it will of course be correctly noted by some that US requires no such severance and many employees get none. But then again, many do get some.

Re: Layoffs and Loyalty in a Liquid Valley

#32

Post by mattmanser » Mon, Oct 19, 2015, 9:48 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #18

carsongross wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 25 years and 11 months > You need to be in a position financially to live several years without a paycheck because it could take years for the job market dynamics to change and become more favourable for the employee. How insane is that? Add to the fact that cost of living is so high now in the Bay Area, and safe returns are so low, that building up any sort of true emergency savings is difficult... Insane.

Save 20% of your income for 25 years and you'll have 5 years living expenses saved up. That's assuming zero returns on capital, beyond inflation. It just means assuming that your $125K/year salary is actually $100K, or your $100K/year salary is actually $80K. There are people - even in the Bay Area - who live on less than half of that.

You've forgotten that you only spend 80% of your salary, so you'd have 6.25 years.

Re: Layoffs and Loyalty in a Liquid Valley

#33

Post by epc » Mon, Oct 19, 2015, 11:47 AM UTC

cookiecaper wrote: post #29

mschuster91 wrote: post #16

What I don't get is: can you really be terminated without notice in the US? In Germany, you have iirc minimum 4 weeks delay.

Most of the time, yes. There is a law that protects certain types of workers (primarily factory workers, iirc) and mandates that they be given 6 weeks of notice. This notice period can be converted into 6 weeks of pay (that is, you have to pay them for six weeks, but you don't have to keep them in the building), an option companies almost always take. However, when you hear these things about America, you should unde…

Do you mean the WARN act? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_Adjustment_and_Retraini...

Re: Layoffs and Loyalty in a Liquid Valley

#34

Post by naveen99 » Mon, Oct 19, 2015, 1:24 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #18

carsongross wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 25 years and 11 months > You need to be in a position financially to live several years without a paycheck because it could take years for the job market dynamics to change and become more favourable for the employee. How insane is that? Add to the fact that cost of living is so high now in the Bay Area, and safe returns are so low, that building up any sort of true emergency savings is difficult... Insane.

Save 20% of your income for 25 years and you'll have 5 years living expenses saved up. That's assuming zero returns on capital, beyond inflation. It just means assuming that your $125K/year salary is actually $100K, or your $100K/year salary is actually $80K. There are people - even in the Bay Area - who live on less than half of that.

Do you mean 20% excluding retirement programs ? Remember to do that after maximizing contributions to your 401k, ira, etc... At layoff time you might be able to extract some money without penalty and with minimal taxes.

Re: Layoffs and Loyalty in a Liquid Valley

#35

Post by cafard » Mon, Oct 19, 2015, 5:07 PM UTC

balladeer wrote: post #30

hwstar wrote: post #12

You need to be prepared at all times. You never know when (not if) they are going to come for you. I lasted 25 years and 11 months at one company before they came for me. (In hindsight, I should have quit long before the company got into such dire straits, but it was an easy commute, and the co-workers were great people to work with) Layoffs in the tech industry will happen. An emergency fund or F.U. money is require…

> In hindsight, I should have quit long before the company got into such dire straits, but it was an easy commute, and the co-workers were great people to work with Not as experienced as you but as a younger guy I would like to share my experience - I lasted 4 years and few months before I was asked to go. Even though I never considered myself irreplaceable in a firm of 6K+ coders, it was a revelation how "business s…

As a sometime adjunct, and husband and brother of adjuncts, let me warn you: adjunct teaching may eventually be a nice supplement to regular income, but the first time or two through the class, you will be making roughly minimum wage. And I don't think that it is really a career option. Have a look at all the stuff on the internet about the adjunct life.

Re: Layoffs and Loyalty in a Liquid Valley

#36

Post by balladeer » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 6:43 AM UTC

cafard wrote: post #35

balladeer wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In hindsight, I should have quit long before the company got into such dire straits, but it was an easy commute, and the co-workers were great people to work with Not as experienced as you but as a younger guy I would like to share my experience - I lasted 4 years and few months before I was asked to go. Even though I never considered myself irreplaceable in a firm of 6K+ coders, it was a revelation how "business s…

As a sometime adjunct, and husband and brother of adjuncts, let me warn you: adjunct teaching may eventually be a nice supplement to regular income, but the first time or two through the class, you will be making roughly minimum wage. And I don't think that it is really a career option. Have a look at all the stuff on the internet about the adjunct life.

Point noted. Thanks.