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Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

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Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#811

Post by erichocean »

rexreed wrote: post #519
neivin wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most large Stripe clients split traffic. It doesn't make sense to have Stripe be a single point of failure if you're processing enough volume.

How do you do that when Stripe holds your subscription / recurring revenue? Keep that recurring revenue base independent of the CC processor? I used to use Recurly and stuff like that but it seemed like I was paying double just for the benefit of maintaining my own recurring charge list, not to mention not integrated with many of the payment features.

> Keep that recurring revenue base independent of the CC processor?

Yes. You can transition existing customers over time by moving them over when their card expires.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#812

Post by [deleted] »

zjaffee wrote: post #364
nsxwolf wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I got laid off, my severance was basically enough to buy a bus ticket to the unemployment office. What they're doing here is incredible. (Almost felt compelled to name names here but took a breath)

They're only paying this much severance because 90 percent of it is legally obligated by the state of California, where the vast majority of their employees work. 60 work days must be paid out, which is 12 weeks of work. So essentially they're giving people only an extra 2 weeks of severance to sign away their right to a wrongful termination lawsuit.

[deleted]

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#813

Post by mk89 »

radu_floricica wrote: post #552
abeppu wrote: post #525

I know this isn't new or unique to Stripe, but the language used in these announcements to distance leadership from their choices is always so slimy. "We're not 'firing' or 'terminating' anyone; some people are just 'impacted' by our announcement that we have to 'say goodbye'." It makes repeated mentions of those who are "leaving" (the subject is the former employee) and avoids active verbs where the founders are the…

No offence, but they're not putting anybody in the electric chair. They're letting people go with pay until almost March - if you can't find a new job in 4 months, it's on you, and maybe they weren't wrong to give you up. A dynamic job market includes hiring and firings. At most they have to apologize for some disruption, and they more than made up for that with the severance packages. And about the language - "fire"…

The language is often impersonal, there is absolutely no humanity in it: you're terminating "resources" as if they were like disposable items you can get rid of at any moment.

Layoffs don't have to be like that. Business doesn't have to be like that, you can still be human and recognize you're getting rid of people with families.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#814

Post by striper123 »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #361
nsxwolf wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I got laid off, my severance was basically enough to buy a bus ticket to the unemployment office. What they're doing here is incredible. (Almost felt compelled to name names here but took a breath)

I find it interesting that they're saying they're doing so bad financially they need to cut 14% of their workforce but are also doing well enough they can pay 14% of their payroll for 3.5 months of no work + Bonuses + PTO + Stock + 6 Months of Healthcare? Doesn't seem to add up

It's simple, they aren't bleeding cash, the business isn't in trouble, but they aren't seeing enough growth to justify employing all those people for another few years. It's exactly what the email said, they over-hired.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#815

Post by nullc »

dangus wrote: post #754
jgoodhcg wrote: post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4 months is relatively generous but... > if you can't find a new job in 4 months, it's on you, This statement feels _wrong_. We are all subject to macro trends that we don't have control over. They impact our lives. Even the well off tech people but especially people in other industries.

Steering a bit into /r/antiwork territory, I agree. We are forced to work. We did not choose to work. The choice is to work or live under a bridge/get woken up by cops and thrown in jail. When employers take away our ability to work, they are directly assaulting our ability to survive. Wild animals don't have this problem. If you're a deer you literally run around all day eating plants and fucking. Sure, the animal k…

You might enjoy: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/bob-black-the-abolit...

> Wild animals don't have this problem. If you're a deer you literally run around all day eating plants and fucking. Sure, the animal kingdom has a whole host of other concerns, but my point is that we've replaced all those with a system and we don't have any choice but to live within the boundaries of that system. It's not legal to live a deer's lifestyle as a human.

I have a heard of 15 or so deer on my property. I spend a lot of time watching them, they seem to spend most of their time chewing their cud and watching for things that want to eat them but they seem pretty well adapted to it. They have a pretty good life overall. However, the deer don't have a choice either, but if they were given the choice to live as a typical human I doubt they'd take it. :) But then again, most people wouldn't choose to live as deer either.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#816

Post by striper123 »

bigstripedrama wrote: post #323
thunkle wrote: post #298

I work for Stripe and got laid off this morning. Sucks because my manager was only told this morning, and didn't have a chance to talk about how well I was doing or take any part in the decision making. We'll at least I'll get a break. I worked nights and weekends all of October.

Sorry you're going through this and hope you don't have too much stress. I also echo the sentiment about needing a break, I wish I got laid off today. I'm not sure I can handle the Stripe culture that emerges from this.

I also wish I got laid off today. Stripe is a good company. But the Covid boom really fucked a lot of things up. I genuinely, no exaggeration, not felt my job was safe for a single day working here for over a year, and the worst part is even after this 1000 person layoff I still don't feel safe! It does not feel safe having a job that is so intimately linked to consumer spending.

The things I would have done with 14 weeks paid vacation + bonus + equity vest....

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#817

Post by andirk »

oblio wrote: post #747
xyst wrote: post #729

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel most decent engineers can get rehired elsewhere with 14 weeks of runway. I do agree this is generous af. Most companies just give out minimum severance. No acceleration of vesting. Healthcare continues for maybe 1-2 months. I know at my current company, I will lose all PTO.

> I feel most decent engineers can get rehired elsewhere with 14 weeks of runway. Oh, sweet summer children and children of recession free economies for IT. If job openings fall to 10-20-30% of current ones and tens, hundreds of thousands of IT workers are fired, good luck getting hired quickly, when any of the few good remaining job opening has hundreds of good applicants. We'll be back to the days of: Sure, you can…

Why does this person talk like they live on a Roman reenactment battlefield AND somehow with all those words said nothing of substance?

Software engineers are needed all over the place and thus are often easily employable.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#818

Post by d2049 »

dmazin wrote: post #71

Reading this letter, seems like they're also going to try to cut cloud costs. A consultant who wanted to travel around companies and help them lower cloud costs could make a KILLING right now.

Stripe has some fantastic engineers, I doubt they need to hire a consultant to do those sorts of tasks.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#819

Post by confidantlake »

sulam wrote: post #763
confidantlake wrote: post #752

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, did the google interview late this summer and then they froze hiring. Got contacted by a recruiter from google last month. Told him I had already interviewed. He told me I should just wait until the freeze is over and not interview again.

The freeze has been over for weeks. I do an interview every week, and my team has two open roles right now.

Damn, ty for the heads up. Might be worth contacting my recruiter again then. Was for L4.

Re: Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

#820

Post by happyopossum »

sulam wrote: post #763
confidantlake wrote: post #752

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, did the google interview late this summer and then they froze hiring. Got contacted by a recruiter from google last month. Told him I had already interviewed. He told me I should just wait until the freeze is over and not interview again.

The freeze has been over for weeks. I do an interview every week, and my team has two open roles right now.

Can confirm - have seen 2 offers go out in the past week or so.
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