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

washingtonpost.com

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

#841

Post by mft_ »

jupp0r wrote: post #623
mft_ wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If there was a way to determine the least performing 50% of employees in a matter of two days, they wouldn't be there in the first place anymore. This would assume that the previous management had an incentive to cut costs and remove 50% of their workforce... which is probably not the case at all.

What makes you think that previous management needlessly employed unproductive workers when they could have easily not done so? Do you think that Elon Musk has some special magic insight that makes him get the same amount of work done with half the resources? I know some people at Twitter and some people at Musk's companies and I don't think they are fundamentally run differently.

I'm absolutely not saying anything related to Musk, at all?

Your original comment stated: "If there was a way to determine the least performing 50% of employees in a matter of two days, they wouldn't be there in the first place anymore."

Therefore you, not I, implied that there are relatively unproductive workers at Twitter (not unreasonable, of course - there's always going to be a performance spectrum) - and you suggested that the previous management would have removed them if there was an easy way to identify them.

This is what I was disagreeing with - your premise that the previous management would have removed their most unproductive 50% if there was an easy way to identify them.

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

#842

Post by WalterBright »

ADuckOnQuack wrote: post #828
WalterBright wrote: post #808

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you'd get more pay without these protections, you can save the excess for a rainy day. People should save for a rainy day, anyway. Why must the employer be their parents? I don't buy the idea that people in a free country like the US somehow found the one and only job they could ever have.

> Since you'd get more pay without these protections, you can save the excess for a rainy day. It sounds like you are speaking from a position of extreme privilege, more than 165 million Americans (over half) do not have a spare ~$400 for an emergency, much less savings to pay rent after a sudden job loss. And when people get desperate some turn to crime. Which then increases your costs through increased taxation for…

> It sounds like you are speaking from a position of extreme privilege, more than 165 million Americans (over half) do not have a spare ~$400 for an emergency

"Extreme"? What nonsense. I know many middle class people who don't have a spare $400 for an emergency. They also have a boat in the driveway. They don't have an income problem, they have a spending problem.

> And when people get desperate some turn to crime.

Or sell the boat. I remember one couple I counselled that couldn't pay the rent, but had a new car. I suggested they sell that, and buy one they could afford. I was surprised to find out that's just what they did.

It's not a poverty problem, it's a financial management problem. Don't conflate that with being actually poor.

> when people get desperate some turn to crime.

Crime causes poverty, not the other way around.

The downside to treating employees like children is a lower standard of living.

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

#843

Post by WalterBright »

kenjackson wrote: post #827
WalterBright wrote: post #808

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you'd get more pay without these protections, you can save the excess for a rainy day. People should save for a rainy day, anyway. Why must the employer be their parents? I don't buy the idea that people in a free country like the US somehow found the one and only job they could ever have.

You likely won’t get more pay. In times without protections against collusion and without minimum wages, and laws against child labor — wages don’t typically go up. But you will have more workers in labor. Just not protected and poorer.

Pay for workers is set by Supply&Demand, just like everything else. Adding worker protections increases costs to hire, which reduces demand, and so salaries drop.

It's inevitable.

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

#844

Post by matai_kolila »

93po wrote: post #836
matai_kolila wrote: post #831

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's not how this works. Elon Musk existed before his Twitter purchase, he doesn't get a pass on literally everything he's done up until now.

This makes absolutely zero sense

...it makes no sense to consider someone's history when predicting their future performance?

If that doesn't make sense to you, not much will.

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

#845

Post by danielheath »

WalterBright wrote: post #808
danielheath wrote: post #709

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absolutely true, but in practice most people would experience substantial hardship if they suddenly lost their job. I wouldn't, but being in a country with employee protections means the people around me are almost never placed in a desparate situation, and I am meaningfully safer because of that.

Since you'd get more pay without these protections, you can save the excess for a rainy day. People should save for a rainy day, anyway. Why must the employer be their parents? I don't buy the idea that people in a free country like the US somehow found the one and only job they could ever have.

Most people _don’t_ save for a rainy day. That’s an objective fact; imagining it would be otherwise if you gave them a bit more money is a fantasy not supported by anything observed in reality.

As to finding another job: of course they will, but switching costs are pretty high for job changes.

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

#846

Post by Handytinge »

matai_kolila wrote: post #831
Aleksdev wrote: post #813

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He literally just bought it. Give the man a chance before writing him off.

No, that's not how this works. Elon Musk existed before his Twitter purchase, he doesn't get a pass on literally everything he's done up until now.

You're moving the goalposts from the context of the thread.

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

#847

Post by Haga »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #737
cpsns wrote: 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?

No post body was provided.

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

#848

Post by michaelcampbell »

canadiantim wrote: post #551
iammjm wrote: 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.

Sign me up for 10x that "flak" if I had his money. Please.

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

#849

Post by matai_kolila »

Handytinge wrote: post #846
matai_kolila wrote: post #831

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's not how this works. Elon Musk existed before his Twitter purchase, he doesn't get a pass on literally everything he's done up until now.

You're moving the goalposts from the context of the thread.

There are no "goalposts" to move. Elon Musk has a well earned reputation, and it's impacting how I and others judge his actions related to Twitter.

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

#850

Post by Railander »

AlexandrB wrote: post #436
cercatrova wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technical people, especially engineers and those on HN, hate sign up forms but having grown a product to X thousand users, the more you push the sign up form, the more people sign up. You can even plot a linear relationship between the two, which I've done before.

This seems shortsighted. It's optimizing for what's easy to measure (sign ups) over what's hard to measure (brand, customer satisfaction, word of mouth).

This is a technique called "getting the foot in the door".

You see videogames employing these psychological tactics constantly nowadays to completely min-max human behavior into spending money.

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