421–430 of 936 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If shit hits the fan, there won't be freezers to be bought... they'll get panic purchased instantaneously and, if you did manage to find one for sale, expect it to cost multiple times what you otherwise might have paid.
FYI - They're already gone.
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I first misread it as "14 months" (as usually you count in months), but it was way out of bounds.
It's really strange to me that companies in the US can just determine how much severance they're "willing" to pay. Why is it even up to them?
Benefits vary greatly. It has been awhile since I worked with this stuff, but IIRC Massachusetts is the highest payout ($750+) and places like Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Arizona are Severance is usually part of an employee contract (if one exists) or commonly part of an agreement at separation where the employer gets some benefit (waiving the right to sue, etc).
While I don't want to seem like I'm wishing unemployment or hardship on anyone, the implosion of Airbnb is already causing a rent price correction that was sorely needed in many cities that have become severely unaffordable. Wired published an article about this effect in London [1] and I've seen price drops as much as $500 for condos in the downtown core of Toronto on Zillow already. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/…
If Airbnb is willing to pay 14 weeks (3.25 months) of severance, they must believe this is going to go on significantly longer than that. Or they're using this as an opportunity to cut underperformers at the same time. Because if they believed things would start to recover by fall, wouldn't you just pay the people as normal and make a judgement call around then? You're spending the payroll money either way -- 14 week…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's really strange to me that companies in the US can just determine how much severance they're "willing" to pay. Why is it even up to them?
worth noting that this severance is vastly more generous than you'd get from statutory redundancy in most (all?) countries. the UK is one week's pay for every year, but with a maximum of £538/week and a maximum of 20 years for length service. given that a software engineer who's been at AirBnB for two years is going to get 16 weeks of pay and probably makes _at least_ 180k/year, they're probably getting around $55k.
This compensation does not sound "vastly more generous", but not bad for those that were less than 5 years employed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's really strange to me that companies in the US can just determine how much severance they're "willing" to pay. Why is it even up to them?
worth noting that this severance is vastly more generous than you'd get from statutory redundancy in most (all?) countries. the UK is one week's pay for every year, but with a maximum of £538/week and a maximum of 20 years for length service. given that a software engineer who's been at AirBnB for two years is going to get 16 weeks of pay and probably makes _at least_ 180k/year, they're probably getting around $55k.
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It is generous by US standards, but it's just nice for many other western countries, where the standard is a few months of salary, or e.g. one month salary for each year worked (that is, if you had worked for the company for 5 years, you get at least 5 months salary on termination -- Israel mandates that one by law, for example, and NOT paying it is considered a criminal violation performed by the employer)
Don't get the idea that those are free lunches. They are factored as an expected value in your total compensation for sure. It's part of the reason that median incomes in the US are much higher than Europe and everywhere else: less benefits requires higher cash compensation for the same marginal product.
I have (regrettably) not found many companies in other countries which pay that well, except maybe Google Zurich, which is hard to get in I hear.
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It's pretty bold to claim any and all price drops are directly attributable to Airbnb when in the middle of a recession causing pandemic that is heavily impacting normal housing/rental market activity.
I admit that both my observations, and the ones in the Wired article I cited, are anecdotal. And it's certainly not the only factor driving those rent decreases. But it's oddly coincidental that the biggest and most immediate price drops seem to be concentrated in the areas that had the most Airbnb listings, at least based on what i've looked at in Toronto.
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As I recall, COBRA is pretty expensive.
They wanted like $1400/month for family coverage when I left my last job. I rolled the dice and went without it. It's available retroactively so if you need it later you can sign up for it.
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Good point. If they're wanting to part ways with 25% of the workforce now, covering 3 months of full salary and 12 months of expensive healthcare, they must be expecting fundamental market shifts. Also, the debt they took on may have been partly to cover these lavish severance packages while also extending the runway. And yes, this is extremely lavish. Paying severance that appears roughly equal to the median annual…
It is generous by US standards, but it's just nice for many other western countries, where the standard is a few months of salary, or e.g. one month salary for each year worked (that is, if you had worked for the company for 5 years, you get at least 5 months salary on termination -- Israel mandates that one by law, for example, and NOT paying it is considered a criminal violation performed by the employer)
If you think this is factually wrong, please point out why. If you think it's stupid (even though it is not factually wrong), I would also appreciate an explanation why.