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Layoffs at Block

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Re: Layoffs at Block

#811

Post by squidbeak »

grey-area wrote: post #666
senko wrote: post #254

This is one of the best (if not the best) layoff letters I've seen online (no affiliation, don't know anyone working there, purely outsider perspective). * Severance packages upfront because realistically that's what everyone worries about first. * Reasoning second. I appreciate the one clean cut vs prolonged bleeding. * Owning the decision and respecting the people that got you there. Opting for an awkward allhands…

Apart from the bit where he lays 4000 people off, but himself is untouched. Oh and the bit where he claims AI efficiencies are the reason. If I had to do this to a company I’d built I’d fire myself too. It’s an admission of a massive failure of leadership.

An external tech appears that eliminates the need for human labor. But a CEO acknowledging its arrival and adjusting for it is a 'massive failure of leadership'?

Re: Layoffs at Block

#812

Post by albatross79 »

Investors and share holders want to hear that you're an "AI" company now. That implies some kind of transformation so a ritual needs to be performed. Transformations and rituals are right up "jack"'s alley, so in this case, and unfortunately for employees, it dovetails perfectly.

Notice growth is still purportedly the priority, but if it was just about growth and AI was a growth driver they wouldn't need to cut half the company, it would just be growing. It's the transformation ritual that matters. That's what gets investor's attention. You cut thousands of jobs and announce its because of AI, congratulations you're a hot new AI company. Now the hiring can start. Faang has the same number of employees as they did before the cuts started.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#813

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

albatross79 wrote: post #812

Investors and share holders want to hear that you're an "AI" company now. That implies some kind of transformation so a ritual needs to be performed. Transformations and rituals are right up "jack"'s alley, so in this case, and unfortunately for employees, it dovetails perfectly. Notice growth is still purportedly the priority, but if it was just about growth and AI was a growth driver they wouldn't need to cut half…

Isn't "Block" the company with a bunch of half-baked crypto investments?

Methinks "AI" is only a figleaf here.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#814

Post by squidbeak »

dehrmann wrote: post #535
paxys wrote: post #101

Square/Block stock peaked at $273 in Feb 2021 and is currently at $54. Taking away the Covid bubble the stock has been completely flat since 2018, almost 8 years, while the S&P 500 returned nearly 200% in that same period. So I'm not buying the whole "the company is doing great! The layoff is just because of AI."

If AI makes people twice as productive and you're a mature software company chasing marginal value, if the marginal value people added was worth it before AI, surely more marginal value at the same cost is better. It's also the wrong side of the AI curve to be on. Maybe AI will replace dev jobs, but why not wait to find out? And if it does, prompt-coding is a different skill than traditional coding, and it's not what…

> It's already the wrong side of the AI curve to be on. Maybe AI will replace dev jobs, but why not wait to find out?

Have you considered their internal use has already proven AI's capability to them?

Re: Layoffs at Block

#815

Post by squidbeak »

input_sh wrote: post #671
acchow wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to the laws in your country that would make this illegal? I’m skeptical

I can, easily. Speaking for my country and assuming you are not on a fixed-term contract, you can only get fired for one of the three reasons: 1. Company's in financial trouble and forced to downsize. 2. The position becomes obsolete and there's no option to transition you into some other role. In this case, the company can't hire anyone with a similar-enough skillset to yours for at least a year (or maybe even longe…

Wouldn't 2 be applicable to Block? Dorsey is pretty much saying AI's made these positions obsolete.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#816

Post by nkrisc »

unsupp0rted wrote: post #667
TeMPOraL wrote: post #660

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the stupid way to manage every year has to be x% exponential increase over the previous year, always forgetting that it is physically impossible when everyone goes for the same goal. That's why we have this corporate ritual, which we carry out each year, or even each quarter - a solemn ceremony, where we divide everyone into two groups: the cost centers and the profit centers . Everyone works in harmony for the sam…

As if some people are born as cost centers, like it’s the genetic programming for pupillary distance. If you want to be a profit center, be one. When the body is in danger of dying should it stop healing the fingernails or the brain?

Ah, so this is why many companies end up full of sociopaths who contribute nothing to the actual revenue of the company: they all managed to weasel themselves into the “profit centers” while the chumps doing actual work that keeps the lights on remain in the “cost centers”.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#817

Post by grumple »

adastra22 wrote: post #699
agnishom wrote: post #611

> i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. Sounds like a false dichotomy. The third option is that he could have kept them around. It would be financially feasible given that "our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving.".

If AI was that much more productive, then Block would be able to take on much bigger challenges and expand their revenue even faster. The AI explanation doesn't add up.

Indeed. If you suddenly have a workforce that can be 2x as productive (or whatever multiple), why would you cut them? You already have these people under your control, direct them towards profitable ventures.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#818

Post by notreallycool »

aaa_aaa wrote: post #627
Bluescreenbuddy wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is just a misinformation machine now. They got rid of anyone that made it a decent place. No more pesky moderation, sales and ad teams, etc. as long as it’s up and the sock puppets can foment dived, it’s serving its purpose.

It is a misinformation machine. Funny thing is, it always was. People just want their misinformation reign supreme.

I left Twitter a few months ago because the overall experience was getting worse and I had no desire to be fed culture war propaganda and AI slop non-stop.

I decided to dip my toes into Reddit after a few years of irregular use. The politics there are far worse, and far more one sided. The political takes on the main page are insane. We have a lot of mentally ill people in this country.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#819

Post by locallost »

jdross wrote: post #308
interestpiqued wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair X has significantly declined as an experience since Elon laid of 80%. I assume many of those he laid off were soft skill people that helped curate the experience.

As you know, this is a subjective take. (I enjoy my experience there more now, for example, with less social politics in my feed.) And their head of product claimed that X only has around 30 FT employees apparently working on it, so it's much more than 80% since then. https://www.ndtv.com/feature/x-head-of-product-claims-compan...

I logged into xitter recently after a long time, and my feed was cluttered with anti immigrant scare stories, western values under threat etc. that I got really scared thinking what the future holds if people are getting brain washed to this extent. It was things I never followed anywhere, so Elon is literally stuffing this crap down everyone's throat. Vibes of invention of radio and television powering the Holocaust.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#820

Post by squidbeak »

pembrook wrote: post #537
torben-friis wrote: post #120

>we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. In my country, this action would be literally illegal. Even in countries where it isn’t, it feels highly immoral. “I’m not in any kind of pressure to do this but I’m choosing to shed the people who created my wealth for greater…

This is also why your countries social welfare systems are teetering on fiscal insolvency and deficits are ballooning. Your inefficient and non-competitive private sector isn't growing fast enough to fund your growing demand for free stuff in the public sector. Maybe if companies and entrepreneurs were allowed to shift more rapidly to meet market demand your legacy giants (and social welfare meal ticket) wouldn't be…

It's amazing how reflexively the taunts always start with welfare. The case for prioritizing people over corporations shouldn't ever need to be made.
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