4 ms·

The market for talent is quite competitive. Companies need to pay market rates and have a staff that's large enough to compete. In a market where capital is ch

The market for talent is quite competitive. Companies need to pay market rates and have a staff that's large enough to compete. In a market where capital is cheap they will bid up rates and hire more people. If you don't do this you give your competitors a chance to beat you. Companies might be able to slow it down a little bit, but not entirely. Similarly in a market where capital is expensive they need to reduce the spend and team size. Google is a public company. If part of the team is costing them more than the value they create for shareholders, there will be immense pressure to down size. This is actually healthy in a way since talent frees up for other companies. The bigger problem is that in the USA healthcare is tied to employment. That's messed up

menzoic 4y ago
> The bigger problem is that in the USA healthcare is tied to employment. That's messed up True but COBRA coverage lets you pay to stay on your job-based health insurance (cheaper) for a limited time after your job ends (usually 18 months). https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/cobra-continuation-health-coverage-consumer.pdf https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-a...
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  In my experience, COBRA is not cheaper, because you end up paying the company's part, as well as your own, and you suddenly realize how much of the load they carried. I live in a state with a pretty damn good Obamacare implementation, and I'm quite grateful.
- buffington 4y ago
  In my experience, COBRA ends up costing about 2.5x for employees who've left a company that subsidizes their insurance premiums. Perhaps it's more reasonable if it's for a single young person with a high deductible. The last time I was on COBRA, the cost was unbelievable. For a family of 4, it was over $3k per month, and that was 5 years ago.
wilg 4y ago
> The bigger problem is that in the USA healthcare is tied to employment. That's messed up You can certainly get health insurance without being tied to employment. Without COBRA or any other workarounds. Has everone forgotten Obamacare? (Single payer would be nicer though.)
- datalus 4y ago
  Not sure about your state's Obamacare, but all the plans offered in my state only cover in network providers. Whereas my employer's plan also covers out of network which I used for therapy. Now I'm stuck paying full price and unemployed for therapy as COBRA was way too expensive to keep going, even with my severance, because who knows how long it's going to take to get a job. It's been pretty slow so far and I've spent everyday sending my resume around and shaking down my network.
csomar 4y ago
Yet, everyone here is ignoring this. In reality, every company (whether Silicon, Oil or Rocks) is just a businesses; and at the end of the day they are in the business of arbitrage: They buy something with $xx and sell it for $yy. Interest rates affect that. This over-hiring and over-firing is being instigated by the Fed. Tech (or otherwise) companies are reacting to that.

menzoic 4y ago

> The bigger problem is that in the USA healthcare is tied to employment. That's messed up True but COBRA coverage lets you pay to stay on your job-based health insurance (cheaper) for a limited time after your job ends (usually 18 months). https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/cobra-continuation-health-coverage-consumer.pdf https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-a...

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
In my experience, COBRA is not cheaper, because you end up paying the company's part, as well as your own, and you suddenly realize how much of the load they carried. I live in a state with a pretty damn good Obamacare implementation, and I'm quite grateful.
buffington 4y ago
In my experience, COBRA ends up costing about 2.5x for employees who've left a company that subsidizes their insurance premiums. Perhaps it's more reasonable if it's for a single young person with a high deductible. The last time I was on COBRA, the cost was unbelievable. For a family of 4, it was over $3k per month, and that was 5 years ago.

wilg 4y ago

> The bigger problem is that in the USA healthcare is tied to employment. That's messed up You can certainly get health insurance without being tied to employment. Without COBRA or any other workarounds. Has everone forgotten Obamacare? (Single payer would be nicer though.)

datalus 4y ago
Not sure about your state's Obamacare, but all the plans offered in my state only cover in network providers. Whereas my employer's plan also covers out of network which I used for therapy. Now I'm stuck paying full price and unemployed for therapy as COBRA was way too expensive to keep going, even with my severance, because who knows how long it's going to take to get a job. It's been pretty slow so far and I've spent everyday sending my resume around and shaking down my network.

csomar 4y ago

Yet, everyone here is ignoring this. In reality, every company (whether Silicon, Oil or Rocks) is just a businesses; and at the end of the day they are in the business of arbitrage: They buy something with $xx and sell it for $yy. Interest rates affect that. This over-hiring and over-firing is being instigated by the Fed. Tech (or otherwise) companies are reacting to that.