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Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

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Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#731

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mr. Agrawal told employees that their stock options would convert to cash when the deal with Mr. Musk closes, which he estimated would take between three and six months. Employees would receive their same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalized and there were no immediate plans for layoffs, he added. So, really those two long sentences should be rewritten: Mr Agrawal, as an officer of the company, e…

"no immediate plans for layoffs" means "layoffs in a few weeks".

Exactly. The moment upper management utters the word 'layoff' in any context, or tries to reassure workers it's time to GTFO immediately.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#732

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one time I was laid off I had to sign an NDA and a non-compete to get severance. I signed it because it was a decent severance package, and the company was going bankrupt and I figured there would not be any entity left that would care or try to enforce it.

I strongly disagree with non-competes for file and rank employees but a non-compete for someone that was laid off is just ridiculous.

Well don’t sign it then. When I had to sign it, I totally agreed with it. I signed the NDA and got my check.

I hope you start a company and are in a position to give severance to fired employees and not make them sign non-competes.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#733
post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TANSTAAFL. (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.) The downside of employee protections is that it makes companies more reluctant to hire. And also once hired, the salary to be offered is reduced to cover the estimated current value of the future employee protections. These are real downsides, particularly for young people who are trying to get a foot into the corporate ladder. I have even personally witnessed a…

If increased employee protection causes you to layoff almost everyone in a country -- you probably had little good business reason to be in that country. Employee protection exists because there's a huge power imbalance. A company who can constantly just say, "we'll fire you if this doesn't get done" and colludes with other companies on such matters makes it very difficult for workers. This is why employee protection…

> If increased employee protection causes you to layoff almost everyone in a country -- you probably had little good business reason to be in that country.

This kind of directly speaks to the commenters point. There may have “little good”, but enough reason until the legal change to increase employee protections created “no good reason”.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#734
post #481

I used to be a big Musk fan. But the longer it gets, the more i start to dislike him. He starts turning into a Mad King

I’m the opposite. Never was a Musk fan but now that I see him trying to reform twitter I’m very impressed he’s willing to take so much flak for such a direly needed goal.

Agreed. I'm excited to see what the Twitter "business" becomes under Musk's leadership. For too long Twitter has flirted with being a public utility and not a company.

For sure it will be a hard time for the current team - both those that stay and those that go as it is with any significant change.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not an excuse to treat people poorly, but I certainly have less empathy for someone who has $5M in vested stock who gets fired vs someone who makes $15/hour and lives paycheck to paycheck. Both are injustices. The former isn’t much of a risk to life. The latter could literally result in life or death situations.

Selective empathy is on the path to becoming a sociopath

Relative empathy is part of being a regular human being.

If someone has 10 lollipops and loses 1, that’s not “selective empathy” to feel differently than about someone else who has 1 lollipop and loses everything.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#737
post #731

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"no immediate plans for layoffs" means "layoffs in a few weeks".

Exactly. The moment upper management utters the word 'layoff' in any context, or tries to reassure workers it's time to GTFO immediately.

Why would you GTFO because there’s a possibility you might be laid off? Why not wait and see if that actually happens and collect any severance?

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#738
post #705

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. But Musk is betting that Twitter is not profitable because of the people running it. And Twitter was profitable for a while before the marked management change in late 2018.

It's not a result of bad management. Twitter is only non-profitable because they choose to spend all that excess revenue on R&D; Partly because, that's what tax law incentives, partly because that's what investors in tech companies want: Growth If you look at twitter's own financial filings, they could easily be profitable if they just dropped their R&D budget. The filings claims in the 2021 year it only cost about $…

> because they choose to spend all that excess revenue on R&D;

And what do they have to show for it?

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#739
post #731

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. The moment upper management utters the word 'layoff' in any context, or tries to reassure workers it's time to GTFO immediately.

Why would you GTFO because there’s a possibility you might be laid off? Why not wait and see if that actually happens and collect any severance?

1 - Layoffs mean either your workload is going up, or you're getting fired.

2 - Depending on size of company and location, mass layoffs mean a ton of people looking for jobs at the same time.

Better to get ahead of such things, in my experience.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#740

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well to be honest, Musk and his team looked at quantity/quality of code produced in the last 60 days, with hopefully a 10 minute chance to defend their lack of quantity/quality. Lots of coasters in big companies can get with good rating just be being on the good side of manager/peers and even get Bonus points if you are vocal about DEI and activism.

If some random group of people who don't know me, don't know my labor or my legacy at an organization, don't know my technical abilities, etc. fired me based off the quantity (and subjective quality) of code I produced in the last 60 days, even with 10 minutes to defend myself, I would be spitting mad at the disrespect and dehumanization. Particularly if I know I was being fired days before a stock refresh. No, this…

That's fine. Elon doesn't want you to work for him.

There are people who build multiple successful companies and then there are who prioritize well-being and pick some weird hill to die on.

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