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Buffer Layoffs

open.buffer.com

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Re: Buffer Layoffs

#41

Post by abglassman »

bovermyer wrote: post #14
hguant wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would actually think the opposite: if you're a buffer employee right now, you know a) the company will continue to exist b) that you're a valuable asset to the company and c) that your founders walk the walk when it comes to transparency and information sharing. I'd assume a few people will leave for better offers in the next few weeks, but this seems to prove that the founders are dedicated to the company and can…

Not only that, but the founders themselves took a 40% pay cut each for the next year. That says to me that they value their employees enough that they chose that route rather than lay off an additional person. It's a strong gesture.

And the founders each loaned the company $100k out of their own pockets at "the lowest possible interest rate."

There's a lot of laudable humility and self-accountability in this post and the actions they've taken.

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#42

Post by dasil003 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #9
dasil003 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow your thinking at all. You're assuming that the truth is always so horrible that management can never fully reveal it, and your not accounting for the whiff of secrecy and gossip that can be much worse than the actual withheld information.

Perhaps its because I've been at more failed companies than most? Regardless of transparency vs secrecy, you reach a tipping point where the situation "feels" dire enough that employees leaving accelerates. I'm sure it depends on the demographics of the org, employees with families, mortgages, etc are willing to stick out volatility far less (in my experience) than employees with no obligations. Anecdotal of course!…

I agree with everything you said. But it doesn't address why you think secrecy is always necessary.

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#43

Post by justinzollars »

compiler-guy wrote: post #36

This may be a little cynical but: "With our culture of bringing our whole selves to work and seeing team as family, with shared values we live by,..." In the American business world, you are an employee until you aren't. Confusing being an employee with being "family" is a mistake, both for the company and the employee. When times get bad, companies do what it takes to survive, including throwing employees overboard.…

The most money I ever made was with a group of fellow startup friends, who I considered my family. Being a career warrior might work for you, but that idea worked for us.

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#44

Post by jc4p »

compiler-guy wrote: post #36

This may be a little cynical but: "With our culture of bringing our whole selves to work and seeing team as family, with shared values we live by,..." In the American business world, you are an employee until you aren't. Confusing being an employee with being "family" is a mistake, both for the company and the employee. When times get bad, companies do what it takes to survive, including throwing employees overboard.…

This is so 100% on point. I think the Netflix NYT article from yesterday had a more realistic tone regarding the "family" aspect: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/magazine/can-netflix-survi...

> The key concept is summed up in the 23rd slide. “We’re a team, not a family,” it reads. “Netflix leaders hire, develop and cut smartly, so we have stars in every position.”

Your last sentence here is really important. If that's the mindset a person is in, when a business-centric action happens they won't feel as betrayed. Trust me, feeling betrayed while also fully logically knowing you shouldn't feel betrayed because it's a corporation in a capitalist ecoystem is such a bad feeling.

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#45

Post by dsacco »

danso wrote: post #7

FWIW, here's their public spreadsheet of salaries and calculations. Not sure if it's been recently updated (on closer look, seems to reflect the founders' stated pay cuts, and new hires as recent as last month): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l3bXAv8JE5RB9siMq36-... edit: Adding links to their blog posts: https://open.buffer.com/transparent-salaries/ https://open.buffer.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffe…

I admire Buffer for being so transparent with their salaries, but I don't think I would ever decide to work for a company that mandated it.

In my (admittedly limited) experience, mandating salary transparency tends to increase the salaries of low performers and reduce the salaries of high performers. It usually eliminates the potential for negotiating raises and poses difficult questions about paying some employees more than others in the same band.

Case in point: according to Buffer's salary calculator[1], a "master" (their highest rank) backend developer living in San Francisco and optimizing for salary over equity would earn about $155,000/year. I can't think of any definition of "master" developer that could be competitive for. Friends of mine at AmaGooBookSoft and even other startups have earned nearly double that for being merely "senior" (L5).

[1]: https://buffer.com/salary?r=1&l=10&e=3&q=1

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#46

Post by blahi »

trjordan wrote: post #27
hobo_mark wrote: post #10

I certainly appreciate their openness, and like to follow their progress, but... ...could anyone explain to this naive commenter how it takes 90 (80 for that matter) people to run essentially a 'cronjob as a service' business?

1) cron sucks, I hate using it. $10 / month to never configure cron again would be great. 2) Have you ever used Buffer? Chrome extension, in-app experience, cross-posting to multiple sites, drag-and-drop re-ordering, ...? It's not a single feature, it's "organize my social media posting".

Yeah, but Hootsuite costs $10/month paid and has a generous free plan, so yeah...

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#47

Post by toomuchtodo »

dasil003 wrote: post #42
toomuchtodo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps its because I've been at more failed companies than most? Regardless of transparency vs secrecy, you reach a tipping point where the situation "feels" dire enough that employees leaving accelerates. I'm sure it depends on the demographics of the org, employees with families, mortgages, etc are willing to stick out volatility far less (in my experience) than employees with no obligations. Anecdotal of course!…

I agree with everything you said. But it doesn't address why you think secrecy is always necessary.

If you work because you need a job, and your company is transparent, and its in a financially precarious state, why would you stay?

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#48

Post by vegabook »

hkmurakami wrote: post #39

>In short, this was all caused by the fact that we grew the team too big, too fast. We thought we were being mindful about balancing the pace of our hiring with our revenue growth. We weren’t. >Reflecting on it now, I see a lot of ego and pride reflected in that team size number. > In many areas, we grew the team more than was truly necessary for the time, more than was clearly validated. I feel like we all experienc…

Was just going to post at a higher level, but your comment nails it. These guys are feeling the pain. It's clear. There is honesty going on here - I feel a lack of cynicism from the post, real soul searching, and for that, I can mitigate the otherwise knee-jerk negativity to the managers that I usually feel on layoff justification posts. Reality is hitting people. The market is slowing. Tough choices. No forgiveness for not having seen it, and for hurting the laid off people, but at least I see a genuine search for reasons and genuine empathy. Good post, under the circumstances.

Here's hoping that the wisdom on display will serve this company well.

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#49

Post by kordless »

compiler-guy wrote: post #36

This may be a little cynical but: "With our culture of bringing our whole selves to work and seeing team as family, with shared values we live by,..." In the American business world, you are an employee until you aren't. Confusing being an employee with being "family" is a mistake, both for the company and the employee. When times get bad, companies do what it takes to survive, including throwing employees overboard.…

While I agree with your points, I think the ongoing assumption we can effectively emulate the emotional response of the ones who are actually are affected is starting to really get in the way. The expectation humanity can eliminate all suffering is unreasonable. That expectation is, in my humble option, an inefficiency driven by unreasonable sympathy. When I say "unreasonable" I mean laying blame where it isn't ours to lay. Consider the cost of unbounded empathy.

The Internet, and systems we are building, contributed to the unbounding.

Now the employees...they have a right to feel whatever they want about all this. They are the ones experiencing this, as you so well point out.

Re: Buffer Layoffs

#50

Post by harryh »

justinzollars wrote: post #43
compiler-guy wrote: post #36

This may be a little cynical but: "With our culture of bringing our whole selves to work and seeing team as family, with shared values we live by,..." In the American business world, you are an employee until you aren't. Confusing being an employee with being "family" is a mistake, both for the company and the employee. When times get bad, companies do what it takes to survive, including throwing employees overboard.…

The most money I ever made was with a group of fellow startup friends, who I considered my family. Being a career warrior might work for you, but that idea worked for us.

I'm glad it worked out for you. That's great.

But what would you have done if one of those friends had stopped coming to the office. Or just did bad work. Would you have let them stay on forever or would you eventually have fired them? That's the difference between family and a team.

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