5 ms·

These CEO letters are meaningless. They are written by obscenely paid PR hacks and follow the same template. * This is the most difficult change to COMPANY NAM

These CEO letters are meaningless. They are written by obscenely paid PR hacks and follow the same template. * This is the most difficult change to COMPANY NAME HERE that I’ve had to announce in our almost n-year history. Today, we are reducing our corporate headcount by approximately n people and saying goodbye to many talented teammates.* * While there is no great way to manage this process, we strive to treat each of you with respect and integrity. Each of you who is impacted will have the opportunity to speak to a leader this week.* * While I want to focus today’s attention on our talented teammates who are departing, I did want to say a few words to the team that is staying and carrying the baton. While today’s news is painful, I continue to be very optimistic about our future and convinced of the importance of the role we can play in the world.*

db1234 4y ago
You forgot to include CEO taking responsibility.
- nicksrose7224 4y ago
  Without any actual implications of them "taking responsibility" too
  - xpe 4y ago
    What would that look like? I'm no supporter of PR speak. The CEO ranks seem to have no problem in finding their next gig. Some some receive ludicrous compensation even when the company does poorly. I'm just not sure what is the desired outcome here? And how do we get there?
    - azakai 4y ago
      One possibile way to take personal responsibility could be to add "and therefore I will reduce my compensation by the same percentage we are reducing headcount". (Based on other comments, that would be 6%.)
      - ferdowsi 4y ago
        Their CEO compensation is mostly equity, which has dropped like a stone in the past year.
        db1234 4y ago
        That's true for most corporate employees as well, no?
      - dcgudeman 4y ago
        Don't you think this is pretty childish? When market conditions change companies need to adapt, sometimes that means laying people off. Isn't that the job of the CEO? They are responsible for the health of the company overall. I don't see why they should be punished for making adjustments to make the company competitive.
        xpe 4y ago
        > When market conditions chance, companies need to adapt I agree with that part ^ Let me frame this more broadly. _How_ and _when_ should companies adapt? There are many ways, across many timescales. I'll give a made up example, hopefully in a reasonable ballpark. A company needs to save $250M / year. Let's say there are three options under consideration, not mutually exclusive / can be blended: Option A: Lay off 1% of 10,000 employees, saving $250M/year. Option B: 15% across the board salary cuts, saving $250M/year. Option C: Lower executive and VP-level compensation packages (salary, options, stock, deferred pay, etc), saving $250M. Fairness in service of the company goals means that all viable options are given due consideration. It is relatively easy for a CEO to do lay offs, even if other options (lowering their own comp) has better effects.
        azakai 4y ago
        In general I agree with you, yes, market conditions change, and CEOs need to make sometimes tough choices in response. However, the specific context here is this quote from the CEO: > we were not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth. That’s on me. If the CEO admits they made a mistake that led to the current layoffs then I think it would be admirable to take personal responsibility and accept some personal consequences as a result.
    - int_19h 4y ago
      At the minimum, the desired outcome is that they shouldn't talk about "taking personal responsibility" when there's none to be seen.
  - tarunkotia 4y ago
    Implication is that you get a strike against you which is publicly documented. This also serves a purpose of sending a message to middle-management that we should not repeat this strategic mistake of over-hiring when things are hot and then when things slowdown going through this painful process of separation. I am hopeful that this public admission will inculcate a culture of holding everyone accountable rather than "emperor has no clothes" culture where people live in denial.
whatshisface 4y ago
People complain about how these announcements say nothing, but what would you expect a company to say about their layoffs?
- subb 4y ago
  Maybe start by having a sustainable growth (or you know, no growth!) so you don't have to write a completely emotionless letter explaining why you have to lay off a whole village?
  - vikingerik 4y ago
    Well, perception/observation bias. We never notice the companies that do grow sustainably and don't do layoffs.
    - xpe 4y ago
      You really think so? I've picked many places to work based on my perception of their business model stability and how they treat people. I'm far from perfect of course. I think many employees and investors care about employee retention. I don't know how much it factors in, but it is something.
      - vikingerik 4y ago
        I meant "we" as on a news site like this, "Company Not Laying Off" will never make a headline. Yes, employees and good investors/owners do care.
  - xpe 4y ago
    Remember the CEO is also accountable to the board and investors who have certain expectations. The morality here is hard because the end results are largely driven by the system. Sure, there are some leaders who are particularly ill-suited for their jobs from the employee POV. Unfortunately some of those leaders serve their investors quite well. If you point one finger, you'll quickly realize you might need many more to follow the interconnected trail of power. Also let's not forget that so much of Silicon Valley's advantageous job market is linked to investor behavior, good and bad. My point? Sure, criticize these feaux-emotional layoff letters, just don't forget to look back to see the reality distortion field already in place when you joined that job.
Encrypt-Keeper 4y ago
The CEO letter is meaningless, but the severance and departing benefits look pretty generous at least. A nice little cushion while they look for new jobs. I've certainly seen much worse.
TeeMassive 4y ago
Musk did it better
uuddlrlrbaba 4y ago
In terms of budget, wonder how many staff would equal CEO compensation. A lot of orgs out there carry on just fine through absence and transitions at the top.
cokeandpepsi 4y ago
eh, they gotta say something the exit packages seem good layoffs during this time of year are very stressful
aardvarkr 4y ago
What would you rather the CEO say? It’s easy to complain about everything but orders of magnitude more difficult to think critically and offer ways to improve it. It’s more difficult but that desire to think critically and put in the effort is what makes the community here so much better than most sites.
rco8786 4y ago
> obscenely paid PR hacks I genuinely don't understand comments like this. Do you know who wrote the letter? Do you know how much they get paid? Communications is a real skill with actual, real people that devote their careers to doing it well. And they get paid fairly, unless you know something I don't. Nobody wants to write this letter, least of all the PR person who wrote it. What would you have the CEO say, if not what they all say when this happens? "Our business isn't growing like we hoped now get fucked"?
- tuckerpo 4y ago
  Brevity and directness are appreciated. People's livelihoods are disappearing from underneath them -- give tangible reasons why, in plain language.
  - rco8786 4y ago
    Seriously, what do you think that looks like if not exactly what was written? > We sped up our hiring to catch up with our growth and started many new businesses in response to feedback from our audiences. > Most of our investments are paying off, and while we’ve always been disciplined in how we have managed our business and operational metrics, we were not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth > While our business continues to grow fast, given how quickly we hired, our operating expenses – if left unabated – would continue to outgrow our revenue. We grew too fast and revenue wasn't catching up. What other tangibles do you want? Would they somehow help the situation?
    - tuckerpo 4y ago
      Do you have a horse in this race? Are you the PR guy writing these emails? : ^ ) > What other tangibles do you want? In short-form: you're gone, here's why, here's some money. The diction doesn't need to be apologetic. It's condescending.
      - rco8786 4y ago
        I don't at all. I'm just trying to figure out what people are supposed to be doing. And I was mostly responding to the comment of "obscenely paid PR hacks" in the first place...just unnecessarily cynical. It was a long letter b/c it provided a lot of information. The information you're asking for was wrapped up in 3 sentences. But I guess that was still too long? If it's not apologetic, they get reamed for being too cold/unsympethetic.

db1234 4y ago

You forgot to include CEO taking responsibility.

nicksrose7224 4y ago
Without any actual implications of them "taking responsibility" too
- xpe 4y ago
  What would that look like? I'm no supporter of PR speak. The CEO ranks seem to have no problem in finding their next gig. Some some receive ludicrous compensation even when the company does poorly. I'm just not sure what is the desired outcome here? And how do we get there?
  - azakai 4y ago
    One possibile way to take personal responsibility could be to add "and therefore I will reduce my compensation by the same percentage we are reducing headcount". (Based on other comments, that would be 6%.)
    - ferdowsi 4y ago
      Their CEO compensation is mostly equity, which has dropped like a stone in the past year.
      - db1234 4y ago
        That's true for most corporate employees as well, no?
    - dcgudeman 4y ago
      Don't you think this is pretty childish? When market conditions change companies need to adapt, sometimes that means laying people off. Isn't that the job of the CEO? They are responsible for the health of the company overall. I don't see why they should be punished for making adjustments to make the company competitive.
      - xpe 4y ago
        > When market conditions chance, companies need to adapt I agree with that part ^ Let me frame this more broadly. _How_ and _when_ should companies adapt? There are many ways, across many timescales. I'll give a made up example, hopefully in a reasonable ballpark. A company needs to save $250M / year. Let's say there are three options under consideration, not mutually exclusive / can be blended: Option A: Lay off 1% of 10,000 employees, saving $250M/year. Option B: 15% across the board salary cuts, saving $250M/year. Option C: Lower executive and VP-level compensation packages (salary, options, stock, deferred pay, etc), saving $250M. Fairness in service of the company goals means that all viable options are given due consideration. It is relatively easy for a CEO to do lay offs, even if other options (lowering their own comp) has better effects.
      - azakai 4y ago
        In general I agree with you, yes, market conditions change, and CEOs need to make sometimes tough choices in response. However, the specific context here is this quote from the CEO: > we were not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth. That’s on me. If the CEO admits they made a mistake that led to the current layoffs then I think it would be admirable to take personal responsibility and accept some personal consequences as a result.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    At the minimum, the desired outcome is that they shouldn't talk about "taking personal responsibility" when there's none to be seen.
- tarunkotia 4y ago
  Implication is that you get a strike against you which is publicly documented. This also serves a purpose of sending a message to middle-management that we should not repeat this strategic mistake of over-hiring when things are hot and then when things slowdown going through this painful process of separation. I am hopeful that this public admission will inculcate a culture of holding everyone accountable rather than "emperor has no clothes" culture where people live in denial.

whatshisface 4y ago

People complain about how these announcements say nothing, but what would you expect a company to say about their layoffs?

subb 4y ago
Maybe start by having a sustainable growth (or you know, no growth!) so you don't have to write a completely emotionless letter explaining why you have to lay off a whole village?
- vikingerik 4y ago
  Well, perception/observation bias. We never notice the companies that do grow sustainably and don't do layoffs.
  - xpe 4y ago
    You really think so? I've picked many places to work based on my perception of their business model stability and how they treat people. I'm far from perfect of course. I think many employees and investors care about employee retention. I don't know how much it factors in, but it is something.
    - vikingerik 4y ago
      I meant "we" as on a news site like this, "Company Not Laying Off" will never make a headline. Yes, employees and good investors/owners do care.
- xpe 4y ago
  Remember the CEO is also accountable to the board and investors who have certain expectations. The morality here is hard because the end results are largely driven by the system. Sure, there are some leaders who are particularly ill-suited for their jobs from the employee POV. Unfortunately some of those leaders serve their investors quite well. If you point one finger, you'll quickly realize you might need many more to follow the interconnected trail of power. Also let's not forget that so much of Silicon Valley's advantageous job market is linked to investor behavior, good and bad. My point? Sure, criticize these feaux-emotional layoff letters, just don't forget to look back to see the reality distortion field already in place when you joined that job.

Encrypt-Keeper 4y ago

The CEO letter is meaningless, but the severance and departing benefits look pretty generous at least. A nice little cushion while they look for new jobs. I've certainly seen much worse.

TeeMassive 4y ago

Musk did it better

uuddlrlrbaba 4y ago

In terms of budget, wonder how many staff would equal CEO compensation. A lot of orgs out there carry on just fine through absence and transitions at the top.

cokeandpepsi 4y ago

eh, they gotta say something the exit packages seem good layoffs during this time of year are very stressful

aardvarkr 4y ago

What would you rather the CEO say? It’s easy to complain about everything but orders of magnitude more difficult to think critically and offer ways to improve it. It’s more difficult but that desire to think critically and put in the effort is what makes the community here so much better than most sites.

rco8786 4y ago

> obscenely paid PR hacks I genuinely don't understand comments like this. Do you know who wrote the letter? Do you know how much they get paid? Communications is a real skill with actual, real people that devote their careers to doing it well. And they get paid fairly, unless you know something I don't. Nobody wants to write this letter, least of all the PR person who wrote it. What would you have the CEO say, if not what they all say when this happens? "Our business isn't growing like we hoped now get fucked"?

tuckerpo 4y ago
Brevity and directness are appreciated. People's livelihoods are disappearing from underneath them -- give tangible reasons why, in plain language.
- rco8786 4y ago
  Seriously, what do you think that looks like if not exactly what was written? > We sped up our hiring to catch up with our growth and started many new businesses in response to feedback from our audiences. > Most of our investments are paying off, and while we’ve always been disciplined in how we have managed our business and operational metrics, we were not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth > While our business continues to grow fast, given how quickly we hired, our operating expenses – if left unabated – would continue to outgrow our revenue. We grew too fast and revenue wasn't catching up. What other tangibles do you want? Would they somehow help the situation?
  - tuckerpo 4y ago
    Do you have a horse in this race? Are you the PR guy writing these emails? : ^ ) > What other tangibles do you want? In short-form: you're gone, here's why, here's some money. The diction doesn't need to be apologetic. It's condescending.
    - rco8786 4y ago
      I don't at all. I'm just trying to figure out what people are supposed to be doing. And I was mostly responding to the comment of "obscenely paid PR hacks" in the first place...just unnecessarily cynical. It was a long letter b/c it provided a lot of information. The information you're asking for was wrapped up in 3 sentences. But I guess that was still too long? If it's not apologetic, they get reamed for being too cold/unsympethetic.