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"Zoomies" Just fucking stop with this already. Quit pretending like your employees are so aligned with the company that some kind of special terminology is nee
by brk 4y ago
"Zoomies"
Just fucking stop with this already. Quit pretending like your employees are so aligned with the company that some kind of special terminology is needed, or even logical.
The recent tech layoffs have clearly demonstrated, again (again, as in we've seen this play out a few times in the 2000's), that employees are basically assets that are scaled up and down as needed, like all the rest of corporate infrastructure these days.
Also, when your company is something that more or less is a B2B or B2C app (like zoom) and 1,500 employees is a number that you can lay off and still keep operating, you should have recognized this massive over staffing a LONG time ago and made more gradual corrections to get to a logical and supportable number. Note, this could be slowing down hiring, or charging a lot more for your product, but given the lingering freemium pricing, it's mostly going to be hiring less and not charging more.
These layoff emails are almost parody at this point.
- eska 4y agoEspecially because 15% of them are now Ex-Zoomies
- the_mitsuhiko 4y ago> Just fucking stop with this already. Quit pretending like your employees are so aligned with the company that some kind of special terminology is needed, or even logical. I cannot judge how Zoom works internally but a lot of companies (ours included) has a term to refer to employees. They are usually not born out of some leader making up a ridiculous term, but out of some sort of chaotic process where the origin of that term is often not found.
- bombcar 4y agoSome of them are legitimate, but even then there should be a form of respect where the term isn't used (though I observe they avoided the "hard-r" Zoomer because of the connotations). And especially shouldn't be used in a case where you're laying off some of them.
- the_mitsuhiko 4y agoI would find it odd if the only time you don't use that term on emails then happens to be layoffs.
- bombcar 4y agoWhich is why I wouldn't use the term in general, at least from the top-down. It's inherently a "we're all in this together" term which especially isn't applicable when you aren't.
- the_mitsuhiko 4y agoTBH I did not think much of this practice ever. I see that it's weird seeing that in layoff emails but I don't bat an eye normally.
- JohnFen 4y agoI honestly think it's a red flag when companies do this.
- dymk 4y agoThe bigger red flag is Stripe not allowing its employees to use the term "Stripper"
- brk 4y ago> a lot of companies (ours included) has a term to refer to employees Why? Employee is a perfectly suitable and applicable term. You're not "associates" or anything else that implies there is some kind relationship that is anything other than work for hire. Granted, if you have some kind of internal way to refer to yourselves or your teams, that's great. But like politics or religion, it should probably be a thing that is internal only and not referred to in the outside world/public comms. Terms like "Zoomies" are just childish. If some chain of events led you to be calling yourselves "The Ruby Death Squad", and you use that publicly, then I might change my perspective.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- RagnarD 4y agoI think the idea is to try to create a kind of 'esprit de corps' specific to a particular organization - the idea that there is a bond and that working there is "special", out of the ordinary. It's good psychology, but rings hollow if a competent person is let go because of an economic downturn.
- brk 4y agoYes, I think that is definitely the point, but so far pretty much all of them have proven to be a fraud. If the CEO emails out "Zoomies, I fucked up and now I am cutting my paycheck to $1, and selling my personal stock, to help cover your salaries until we get this figured out", then it maybe means something. But "Zoomies, UR fired, wait to see if you win the email lottery, K thx" is not creating any esprit de corps.
- givemeethekeys 4y ago"Zoomies", "Googlers", "Softies" As part of their compensation package, they receive a diminutive pet name, like a child would.
- dymk 4y agoI'll let you call me a lot of things for $50k
- givemeethekeys 4y agoI bet I could get much more out of you by treating you like an adult.
- empathy_m 4y agoWhat is the word for "name for employees of a company"? It's not "demonyms" but I've seen a whole lot of these names in the layoff notices. I think there is room for a small "employeenames.fyi" site with a table. Scaliens, Stripes, Tweeps