8 ms·

Doesn't LinkedIn(Microsoft) has a shit ton of money in reserves? Is cutting down these jobs in the midst of a pandemic really essential for the company's surviv

Doesn't LinkedIn(Microsoft) has a shit ton of money in reserves? Is cutting down these jobs in the midst of a pandemic really essential for the company's survival? Especially when the economies has started recovering in many parts of the world.

duxup 6y ago
I don't think you stay in business long paying folks that ... you don't want / need working for you anymore.
- blocked_again 6y ago
  Yeah. But the economies are going to recover right? I don't think a few more months of pay slips for 1000 people is going to make any dent in MS bank account. But it sure makes a dent in the life of people who were let go in the middle of a pandemic. If they were not needed in the first place, then the management who hired them in the first place should be also fired for incompetence and letting them all go in middle of a pandemic.
  - duxup 6y ago
    >I don't think a few more months of pay slips I suspect they think it is more than that. Also depending on their situation, they might already be getting a few months of pay anyhow.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    > If they were not needed in the first place, then the management who hired them in the first place should be also fired for incompetence and letting them all go in middle of a pandemic. It is unreasonable to expect management to have a crystal ball into the future. The role of serving as a safety net can only be accomplished by society as a whole, not individual business. Businesses should be able to purchase labor and not purchase labor as they see fit, just like they purchase other supplies for the operation of the business. The role of providing basic income should fall to the government.
  - nickysielicki 6y ago
    > But the economies are going to recover right? A lot of people are hoping it will. A lot of people are even expecting it will. But you’d still be stupid to bet on it. The conservative move is to wait and see.
blackflame7000 6y ago
It’s a business not a charity
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- blocked_again 6y ago
  Please link this comment in your careers page, under company culture, if you ever start a company.
  - saas_sam 6y ago
    Businesses earn money by providing goods & services better than alternatives. Charities earn money by begging. I'd rather work for a business.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - blocked_again 6y ago
      You do know that a lot of these people were working just as hard as you are and were let go off for no fault of their own in the middle of a pandemic?
      - saas_sam 6y ago
        Yes, and the employees that remain should thank them for their hard work and help them find new jobs. If LinkedIn could easily employ an extra 1,000 people without risking the 10,000 that remain, they would've hired an extra 1,000 a year ago. Doesn't work that way.
  - dehrmann 6y ago
    The Netflix culture deck arguably says that in nicer words. https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664/24-Were_a_team_not_a https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664/24-Were_...
replyifuagree 6y ago
One thing I've noticed is that labor law has evolved to where layoffs are the risk free way to cut staff who aren't performing. At my company we would almost never PIP people because we were strongly encouraged to wait for a layoff round. I think the calculus revolved around lawsuits that pips could generate due to their personal nature, vs layoffs being non-personal.
claydavisss 6y ago
Not sure how Msft operates internally, but often, divisions are responsible for their own P & L...so XBox making a ton of money may not help LinkedIn
compiler-guy 6y ago
If these laid-off employees have an average fully-loaded cost of $400,000 (which probably isn't too far off), then linkedin will save about $460,000,000 annually by not keeping them on the payroll. That is not small change, even for a company the size of Microsoft. They may have been contributing more than that to the bottom line prior to the recession--hard to know--but the recession changes quite a bit of the calculus around long-term bets.
- blocked_again 6y ago
  > If these laid-off employees have an average fully-loaded cost of $400,000 (which probably isn't too far off), I highly doubt that. Most of the folks who were let go are from HR/Sales. Plus a portion of the folks are located in India and all.
  - compiler-guy 6y ago
    Fine. Even if they average $200,000, you are still looking at a quarter billion dollars a year. That will still show up in your quarterly results.
    - jsjohnst 6y ago
      > Even if they average $200,000 You’re still way high. It might help to step outside the software engineering bubble once in a while and learn what folks outside your field are paid. LinkedIn probably has >1,000 employees who make around US$50,000 a year or less.
      - compiler-guy 6y ago
        Speaking of assuming too much: You have no idea who I am, or my employment history. The top-line going even lower still doesn't materially change the calculus. Those people cost money to pay, and multiply it by almost 1,000 people and it makes a real difference.
        6y ago

duxup 6y ago

I don't think you stay in business long paying folks that ... you don't want / need working for you anymore.

blocked_again 6y ago
Yeah. But the economies are going to recover right? I don't think a few more months of pay slips for 1000 people is going to make any dent in MS bank account. But it sure makes a dent in the life of people who were let go in the middle of a pandemic. If they were not needed in the first place, then the management who hired them in the first place should be also fired for incompetence and letting them all go in middle of a pandemic.
- duxup 6y ago
  >I don't think a few more months of pay slips I suspect they think it is more than that. Also depending on their situation, they might already be getting a few months of pay anyhow.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  > If they were not needed in the first place, then the management who hired them in the first place should be also fired for incompetence and letting them all go in middle of a pandemic. It is unreasonable to expect management to have a crystal ball into the future. The role of serving as a safety net can only be accomplished by society as a whole, not individual business. Businesses should be able to purchase labor and not purchase labor as they see fit, just like they purchase other supplies for the operation of the business. The role of providing basic income should fall to the government.
- nickysielicki 6y ago
  > But the economies are going to recover right? A lot of people are hoping it will. A lot of people are even expecting it will. But you’d still be stupid to bet on it. The conservative move is to wait and see.

blackflame7000 6y ago

It’s a business not a charity

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
blocked_again 6y ago
Please link this comment in your careers page, under company culture, if you ever start a company.
- saas_sam 6y ago
  Businesses earn money by providing goods & services better than alternatives. Charities earn money by begging. I'd rather work for a business.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - blocked_again 6y ago
    You do know that a lot of these people were working just as hard as you are and were let go off for no fault of their own in the middle of a pandemic?
    - saas_sam 6y ago
      Yes, and the employees that remain should thank them for their hard work and help them find new jobs. If LinkedIn could easily employ an extra 1,000 people without risking the 10,000 that remain, they would've hired an extra 1,000 a year ago. Doesn't work that way.
- dehrmann 6y ago
  The Netflix culture deck arguably says that in nicer words. https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664/24-Were_a_team_not_a https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664/24-Were_...

replyifuagree 6y ago

One thing I've noticed is that labor law has evolved to where layoffs are the risk free way to cut staff who aren't performing. At my company we would almost never PIP people because we were strongly encouraged to wait for a layoff round. I think the calculus revolved around lawsuits that pips could generate due to their personal nature, vs layoffs being non-personal.

claydavisss 6y ago

Not sure how Msft operates internally, but often, divisions are responsible for their own P & L...so XBox making a ton of money may not help LinkedIn

compiler-guy 6y ago

If these laid-off employees have an average fully-loaded cost of $400,000 (which probably isn't too far off), then linkedin will save about $460,000,000 annually by not keeping them on the payroll. That is not small change, even for a company the size of Microsoft. They may have been contributing more than that to the bottom line prior to the recession--hard to know--but the recession changes quite a bit of the calculus around long-term bets.

blocked_again 6y ago
> If these laid-off employees have an average fully-loaded cost of $400,000 (which probably isn't too far off), I highly doubt that. Most of the folks who were let go are from HR/Sales. Plus a portion of the folks are located in India and all.
- compiler-guy 6y ago
  Fine. Even if they average $200,000, you are still looking at a quarter billion dollars a year. That will still show up in your quarterly results.
  - jsjohnst 6y ago
    > Even if they average $200,000 You’re still way high. It might help to step outside the software engineering bubble once in a while and learn what folks outside your field are paid. LinkedIn probably has >1,000 employees who make around US$50,000 a year or less.
    - compiler-guy 6y ago
      Speaking of assuming too much: You have no idea who I am, or my employment history. The top-line going even lower still doesn't materially change the calculus. Those people cost money to pay, and multiply it by almost 1,000 people and it makes a real difference.
      - 6y ago