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Honestly, after working at my previous employer (Blackmagic Design in Port Melbourne, 500+ employees across many products), I just can't believe that. There wa

Honestly, after working at my previous employer (Blackmagic Design in Port Melbourne, 500+ employees across many products), I just can't believe that. There was no HR, no management class, no purchasing agents or head of IT, maybe one hour of meetings a month and everything worked ridiculously, buttery smoothly. We built the products that needed building, everyone pitched in and morale was generally high. I could name one person who I'd consider had a "bullshit job", and another who's job was semi-bullshit. This is out of maybe 100 people I met across multiple departments.

ehnto 5y ago
I don't think we disagree, I think your example fits with what I was saying but I didn't really explain what I meant by required components. It's going to be different for every company too. Like at Blackmagic Design, there is probably a team handling the accounting, and that doesn't directly generate profit by putting products in the hands of consumers but it's a required component to operate with 500+ employees. I really just meant that bigger companies can have more cost center requirements. I agree that a lot of businesses can cut down on bullshit process and bullshit jobs and keep running fine, but there's a lot of "cost centre" style jobs that are non-negotiable, especially when it comes to compliance and government reporting. Compliance and reporting is a business requirement that the software industry very rarely has but I'm expecting to see that change over the next decade. Accounting kind of falls in that category actually. An aside, Blackmagic sounds great to work at. I avoid big companies specifically to avoid the bullshit process and people, so that sounds like a dream.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  Yeah, of course! There was an accounting team, of course, as well as support and the most competent IT department on planet Earth (consisting of two guys for the whole company), but they were nimble and didn't overreach in terms of their authority. Legal was outsourced, AFAIK. >An aside, Blackmagic sounds great to work at. It really was. The culture was amazing.
aix1 5y ago
> There was no HR In a company with no HR, whose role is it to deal with employment contracts, ensure the company's compliance with labour laws and deal with personnel issues (which, at 500+ employees, probably arise more frequently than either of us would think)?
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  I'm assuming the contracts were all written up by a competent lawyer, once, and then just had the titles and salaries slightly changed from person-to-person. Interviews were handled by the team that the new hire would be joining, and most personnel issues were handled locally too. Very rarely they'd be kicked up the chain to the department head, but honestly these issues were very rare. Seriously, without an "HR police" to complain to, most people would just deal with interpersonal issues like adults and move on.
  - lupire 5y ago
    Who handles the sexual harassment complaints and the illegal hiring discrimination? Who handles health insurance and 401k match?
    - AussieWog93 5y ago
      >Who handles health insurance and 401k match? The Federal Government. >Who handles the sexual harassment complaints and the illegal hiring discrimination? Team leads, or lawyers if it gets far enough. You don't need a team of people on full-time for an event that happens twice a year.
    - ehnto 5y ago
      I think the GP is from Australia, where a lot of that stuff is handled by government departments and labour laws. We have lots of labour protection laws that as an employee you can action through the Ombudsman, a federal department. The "401k" is called super anuation and is handled as a standardized legal requirement by the federal government, which simplifies it a lot. Because the ombudsman has teeth, they are pretty good at compelling businesses to comply with labour laws. Health care and so on are also all handled by the government or privately by the individual, rather than being tied to your company.

ehnto 5y ago

I don't think we disagree, I think your example fits with what I was saying but I didn't really explain what I meant by required components. It's going to be different for every company too. Like at Blackmagic Design, there is probably a team handling the accounting, and that doesn't directly generate profit by putting products in the hands of consumers but it's a required component to operate with 500+ employees. I really just meant that bigger companies can have more cost center requirements. I agree that a lot of businesses can cut down on bullshit process and bullshit jobs and keep running fine, but there's a lot of "cost centre" style jobs that are non-negotiable, especially when it comes to compliance and government reporting. Compliance and reporting is a business requirement that the software industry very rarely has but I'm expecting to see that change over the next decade. Accounting kind of falls in that category actually. An aside, Blackmagic sounds great to work at. I avoid big companies specifically to avoid the bullshit process and people, so that sounds like a dream.

AussieWog93 5y ago
Yeah, of course! There was an accounting team, of course, as well as support and the most competent IT department on planet Earth (consisting of two guys for the whole company), but they were nimble and didn't overreach in terms of their authority. Legal was outsourced, AFAIK. >An aside, Blackmagic sounds great to work at. It really was. The culture was amazing.

aix1 5y ago

> There was no HR In a company with no HR, whose role is it to deal with employment contracts, ensure the company's compliance with labour laws and deal with personnel issues (which, at 500+ employees, probably arise more frequently than either of us would think)?

AussieWog93 5y ago
I'm assuming the contracts were all written up by a competent lawyer, once, and then just had the titles and salaries slightly changed from person-to-person. Interviews were handled by the team that the new hire would be joining, and most personnel issues were handled locally too. Very rarely they'd be kicked up the chain to the department head, but honestly these issues were very rare. Seriously, without an "HR police" to complain to, most people would just deal with interpersonal issues like adults and move on.
- lupire 5y ago
  Who handles the sexual harassment complaints and the illegal hiring discrimination? Who handles health insurance and 401k match?
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    >Who handles health insurance and 401k match? The Federal Government. >Who handles the sexual harassment complaints and the illegal hiring discrimination? Team leads, or lawyers if it gets far enough. You don't need a team of people on full-time for an event that happens twice a year.
  - ehnto 5y ago
    I think the GP is from Australia, where a lot of that stuff is handled by government departments and labour laws. We have lots of labour protection laws that as an employee you can action through the Ombudsman, a federal department. The "401k" is called super anuation and is handled as a standardized legal requirement by the federal government, which simplifies it a lot. Because the ombudsman has teeth, they are pretty good at compelling businesses to comply with labour laws. Health care and so on are also all handled by the government or privately by the individual, rather than being tied to your company.