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Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

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Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#71
post #68
post #18

It seems like a good product, though I always get very uneasy by companies that have extreme company cultures. If you work there, you can’t wear shoes in the office (to give the feeling of being at home?) and apparently you need to change your LinkedIn headline to say you “Empower” X or Y. I feel like every blog post I’ve ever seen from this company is about their “mission-driven culture.” Can we go back to a time wh…

To be clear, no shoes in the office thing was started because the streets of SF are super dirty. I hear you on the empower language. It’s always sounded a bit forced to me but I see what they’re going for. Managers should focus on helping their reports be successful rather than getting into management because they want power or status or whatever. Which isn’t to say that renaming titles with fix that, but it is one s…

Dirty?

How are the streets so dirty you can't wear shoes inside commercial building?

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#72
post #18

It seems like a good product, though I always get very uneasy by companies that have extreme company cultures. If you work there, you can’t wear shoes in the office (to give the feeling of being at home?) and apparently you need to change your LinkedIn headline to say you “Empower” X or Y. I feel like every blog post I’ve ever seen from this company is about their “mission-driven culture.” Can we go back to a time wh…

In Finland it is common for people to remove shoes indoors - I guess walking through slush/ice/snow in winters makes that a good habit - and that often extends to company-offices. Of course outside there it would seem a little odd to many, I'm sure. Though sliding around polished floor, in your socks? Never gets old. Maybe I'm just a child..

Also common in Estonia apparently, although they may have stolen that from you Finns!

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#73
post #29
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard many good things about bench.co.

I'm actually a customer of Bench.co, but I've been somewhat frustrated and thinking about leaving. First, they are very slow-- the books for a given month are usually finalized at least a month later (so your May books won't be fully ready until July, sometimes even later). By the time they are ready, the information is "old news" and not useful for decision making. I end up running queries against my Stripe data to…

With 600k in revenue why don't you just get a real accountant firm to take care of that for you?

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#74
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Finland it is common for people to remove shoes indoors - I guess walking through slush/ice/snow in winters makes that a good habit - and that often extends to company-offices. Of course outside there it would seem a little odd to many, I'm sure. Though sliding around polished floor, in your socks? Never gets old. Maybe I'm just a child..

This is in SF and I assure you no other company does this.

Our company does it too and I thought it was weird at first but now I love it.

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#75
post #18

It seems like a good product, though I always get very uneasy by companies that have extreme company cultures. If you work there, you can’t wear shoes in the office (to give the feeling of being at home?) and apparently you need to change your LinkedIn headline to say you “Empower” X or Y. I feel like every blog post I’ve ever seen from this company is about their “mission-driven culture.” Can we go back to a time wh…

Wait, the “no shoes” thing is mandatory? I remember reading about it, but thought it was optional. Still creepy.

Either way, like you said, I wouldn’t work for them for the same reason — obsessive company culture, which indicates a poor work/life balance. They clearly want the kool-aid drinkers.

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#76
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, no shoes in the office thing was started because the streets of SF are super dirty. I hear you on the empower language. It’s always sounded a bit forced to me but I see what they’re going for. Managers should focus on helping their reports be successful rather than getting into management because they want power or status or whatever. Which isn’t to say that renaming titles with fix that, but it is one s…

Dirty? How are the streets so dirty you can't wear shoes inside commercial building?

Well for one the city has become known for the volume of human feces found on the streets.

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#77
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, no shoes in the office thing was started because the streets of SF are super dirty. I hear you on the empower language. It’s always sounded a bit forced to me but I see what they’re going for. Managers should focus on helping their reports be successful rather than getting into management because they want power or status or whatever. Which isn’t to say that renaming titles with fix that, but it is one s…

Dirty? How are the streets so dirty you can't wear shoes inside commercial building?

They're not. People in SF act like SF streets are literally shit stained all over. In all likelihood, it's probably pretty comfortable to not wear shoes in an office haha.

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That's one big reason I wanna leave this place and work for a more blue-collar tech place I'm guessing you'll quickly find that a "blue-collar tech place" isn't quite the panacea you expect. There's a reason no one in Silicon Valley pines for traditional corporate culture. Because it sucks really bad. Putting up with some faux-wokeness is a small price to pay to get away from it.

Partially agree. I have no inclination to work for IBM or corporate software. Just wanna work for a startup where I can crack non PC jokes. Where the company hires for competence and not because they wanna show off that they hire 50% women. I think the Valley was like this 10 years ago.

I feel like there's a big gap between "our mission is to save the word with payroll software"-esque virtue signalling, and a "PC" culture. 99% of the time, "politically correct" === "polite and respectful of boundaries."

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>One way to think about it is that each employees costs $100k or $200k a year. Those are some expensive employees, me and my friends don't cost anywhere remotely near that. I make 34k a year after 13 years on the job. A company doesn't have to hire in one of the highest COL cities in the country.

It's fully loaded costs, an employee is a lot more expensive than just the yearly salary. Looks like they're expanding to NYC so definitely closer to $200k.

My 34k salary does not cost my company 200k, I don't know what benefits you get but for me to cost my company that they'd have to feed me multiple times every day (worth pointing out here, most companies do not provide ANY food or drink outside of tap water) and give me a phone and a car and a bonus or four and I probably still wouldn't get close to costing them 100k. Most people don't make 100k, or anything close to it. The median HOUSEHOLD income in 2016 in the United States was $60,309. Again, household.

The median household income in my state (Indiana) was $54,181 in 2017.

It's my experience many people on HN generally have no clue what most of the country makes.

>The costs to this point (basic salary, employment taxes and benefits) are typically in the 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary range

https://web.mit.edu/e-club/hadzima/how-much-does-an-employee...

Re: Payroll startup Gusto raises $200M

#80
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dirty? How are the streets so dirty you can't wear shoes inside commercial building?

They're not. People in SF act like SF streets are literally shit stained all over. In all likelihood, it's probably pretty comfortable to not wear shoes in an office haha.

They kind of are though, https://www.openthebooks.com/map/?Map=32504&MapType=Pin&Zip=...
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