4 ms·
> The "voluntary separation program (VSP)” as Williams is calling it, will allow writers to “choose to leave the company and receive a lump sum payment of five
by hirundo 6y ago
> The "voluntary separation program (VSP)” as Williams is calling it, will allow writers to “choose to leave the company and receive a lump sum payment of five month's salary to give a buffer to find their next job.
Five months severance sounds unusually generous. Kudos to Ev Williams for offering such a nice parachute to go along with the business model change. It isn't the writers' fault that the business changed underneath them, so giving them ample time for the transition is deserved and decent.
- nerdponx 6y ago5 months severance is a bribe to try and keep employees quiet and mitigate the risk of a lawsuit and/or PR disaster.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y agoA lawsuit over what? I'm not sure if it's a wise business decision for Medium to make these kinds of seismic shifts all the time, but you can't generally sue your boss for making bad decisions.
- harles 6y agoBaseless assertions can be dismissed without evidence. Surely they wouldn’t send out an email to the whole company if they were overly concerned about keeping this quiet.
- gaoshan 6y ago5 months is crazy generous in the news industry. Everyone I know in journalism over the years has generally gotten 0 days to prepare and 0 dollars to cushion any blow.
- tonystubblebine 6y agoA little tangential, but I definitely wouldn't characterize this as a business model change. For some reason people interpret everything Medium does as a pivot. But the business model has been stable for three years.