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Wow this seems really poorly worded. On one hand, the CEO is upbeat about the future and yaks on about strategy and in the same breath says "you're fired". Se

Wow this seems really poorly worded. On one hand, the CEO is upbeat about the future and yaks on about strategy and in the same breath says "you're fired". Seems very insensitive. Laying people off isn't the time for a pep talk and ra ra rally on the strategy. IMO if you have to lay people off then the focus should be the people being laid off, nothing else. "Deeply sorry, we did our best to avoid this and we don't see any choice at this stage. All benefits have been paid immediately plus a severance package in line with statutory requirements. We have engaged a search firm to assist the people impacted with their job search. We believe this is the right move to ensure stability in the current challenging economic conditions and I do not anticipate further layoffs. I want to thank the impacted people for their service in building the company to this point." Something like that anyway.

solardev 3y ago
The wording is to reassure investors. They don't care about the employees.
- 111111IIIIIII 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - solardev 3y ago
    Then again, I can think of nothing more American than good people suffering under the poor decisions of bad people. That's like our entire history.
    - 111111IIIIIII 3y ago
      I would only disagree that such people are inherently bad. Rather, they are fulfilling the role that the dictates of capitalism requires of their given class. All people are inherently good, however all people are inherently social beings. Since capitalism is dominated by humans' relations to capital instead of humans' relations to eachother, the social nature of the human species is repressed, and as such people cannot be their true selves under capitalism. Capitalists would love nothing more than for you to believe that some of them are good and some of them are bad, which is the guiding narrative behind nearly all capitalist propaganda. In reality, they are humans just like ourselves and the system is to blame.
      - solardev 3y ago
        I don't think people are cookie-cutter clones of each other, or blank slates at birth either. There's hereditary/genetic components to selfishness, psychopathy, etc. Not every human born will be compatible with a given societal system. Some personalities, whether by evolution or upbringing or personal development, will succeed more in some systems than others. Our current system favors sociopaths. I'd say they are, as a general rule, overwhelmingly bad.
        111111IIIIIII 3y ago
        > I don't think people are cookie-cutter clones of each other, or blank slates at birth either. Who said anything even close to that? > There's hereditary/genetic components to selfishness, psychopathy, etc. Not every human born will be compatible with a given societal system. or that? > Some personalities, whether by evolution or upbringing or personal development, will succeed more in some systems than others. or that?
      - rebeccaskinner 3y ago
        > All people are inherently good A strong statement. I think it's more likely that most people are inherently ignorant clannish jerks who care to some degree about the fifty or so people they interact with often enough to see as real humans, and largely fail to give much moral consideration one way or another to everyone else except in ways that signal the virtues that gain them social status inside of their close circle. Some people are better or worse than that, and a few people are on the extremes at either end.
    - rudasn 3y ago
      This reads like a very narrow minded view of the world, even though it was in good spirit somehow.
      - solardev 3y ago
        Is it? Our system from the beginning was optimized for personal liberty, almost always at the cost of community. Those same values enabled and entrenched the classist society we have today, then further bolstered a completely useless and unresponsive political class. That's by design from the beginning. Oligarchy under the guise of false democracy... has it ever been any other way in this country? If not, there's no reason to mince words.
        throwmeout123 3y ago
        And it’s still better than europe! A true testament to that splendid idea that is liberty
        solardev 3y ago
        Gotta disagree with ya there. I'd move to Europe in a heartbeat if they let me in.
        dmje 3y ago
        Assuming irony here, if not LOL
        111111IIIIIII 3y ago
        excuse me?
        skissane 3y ago
        > Our system from the beginning was optimized for personal liberty, Really? The US had legal chattel slavery for the first 89 years of its independent existence. And the abolition of slavery was followed not long after by the imposition of legally enforced racial segregation, which then endured for another (approximately) 90 years. Doesn’t sound at all like a “system from the beginning… optimized for personal liberty”
  - glimshe 3y ago
    We Americans are so naive and ignorant. Thankfully we have you to show us the way.
- fakedang 3y ago
  Then that's supposed to go onto a private email addressed directly to the investors. If you want to announce layoffs, do so with humility and lots of goodwill to the people that helped build your company, especially when you're announcing on your website for public scrutiny.
- vira28 3y ago
  How? Don’t the investors have the actual numbers?
  - viraptor 3y ago
    Some investors will look at numbers. Others will look at the persona. (See Tesla's technically unreasonable valuation)
  - achanda358 3y ago
    Not everyone reads everything, a bunch of people will just follow the market.
- EricRiese 3y ago
  Or it's for the HFT bots that run the press releases through sentiment analysis and make trades accordingly.
  - reustle 3y ago
    <span color=“white” size=“1”>Revenue is up 800%!</span>
q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 3y ago
Respectfully disagree. It's important to explain why, and he does that in a standard 3-point structure without getting too carried away on the hype train. It could be worse. Also, this part is worth emphasizing: > For those amazing Netlifolk that are leaving us today, our team is... waving [sic] the first year stock option cliff for newer employees, and extending the exercise period to 7 years. This is a classy move. They didn't have to do this, but they did. Layoffs suck, and no amount of wordsmithing on the email is really going to make a huge difference. It's worth noting and encouraging when companies at least take the time to do something for the people they're letting go. I fully agree with you on one thing, though: the word "sorry" is conspicuously missing. A little more ownership would go a long way.

solardev 3y ago

The wording is to reassure investors. They don't care about the employees.

111111IIIIIII 3y ago
[flagged]
- solardev 3y ago
  Then again, I can think of nothing more American than good people suffering under the poor decisions of bad people. That's like our entire history.
  - 111111IIIIIII 3y ago
    I would only disagree that such people are inherently bad. Rather, they are fulfilling the role that the dictates of capitalism requires of their given class. All people are inherently good, however all people are inherently social beings. Since capitalism is dominated by humans' relations to capital instead of humans' relations to eachother, the social nature of the human species is repressed, and as such people cannot be their true selves under capitalism. Capitalists would love nothing more than for you to believe that some of them are good and some of them are bad, which is the guiding narrative behind nearly all capitalist propaganda. In reality, they are humans just like ourselves and the system is to blame.
    - solardev 3y ago
      I don't think people are cookie-cutter clones of each other, or blank slates at birth either. There's hereditary/genetic components to selfishness, psychopathy, etc. Not every human born will be compatible with a given societal system. Some personalities, whether by evolution or upbringing or personal development, will succeed more in some systems than others. Our current system favors sociopaths. I'd say they are, as a general rule, overwhelmingly bad.
      - 111111IIIIIII 3y ago
        > I don't think people are cookie-cutter clones of each other, or blank slates at birth either. Who said anything even close to that? > There's hereditary/genetic components to selfishness, psychopathy, etc. Not every human born will be compatible with a given societal system. or that? > Some personalities, whether by evolution or upbringing or personal development, will succeed more in some systems than others. or that?
    - rebeccaskinner 3y ago
      > All people are inherently good A strong statement. I think it's more likely that most people are inherently ignorant clannish jerks who care to some degree about the fifty or so people they interact with often enough to see as real humans, and largely fail to give much moral consideration one way or another to everyone else except in ways that signal the virtues that gain them social status inside of their close circle. Some people are better or worse than that, and a few people are on the extremes at either end.
  - rudasn 3y ago
    This reads like a very narrow minded view of the world, even though it was in good spirit somehow.
    - solardev 3y ago
      Is it? Our system from the beginning was optimized for personal liberty, almost always at the cost of community. Those same values enabled and entrenched the classist society we have today, then further bolstered a completely useless and unresponsive political class. That's by design from the beginning. Oligarchy under the guise of false democracy... has it ever been any other way in this country? If not, there's no reason to mince words.
      - throwmeout123 3y ago
        And it’s still better than europe! A true testament to that splendid idea that is liberty
        solardev 3y ago
        Gotta disagree with ya there. I'd move to Europe in a heartbeat if they let me in.
        dmje 3y ago
        Assuming irony here, if not LOL
        111111IIIIIII 3y ago
        excuse me?
      - skissane 3y ago
        > Our system from the beginning was optimized for personal liberty, Really? The US had legal chattel slavery for the first 89 years of its independent existence. And the abolition of slavery was followed not long after by the imposition of legally enforced racial segregation, which then endured for another (approximately) 90 years. Doesn’t sound at all like a “system from the beginning… optimized for personal liberty”
- glimshe 3y ago
  We Americans are so naive and ignorant. Thankfully we have you to show us the way.
fakedang 3y ago
Then that's supposed to go onto a private email addressed directly to the investors. If you want to announce layoffs, do so with humility and lots of goodwill to the people that helped build your company, especially when you're announcing on your website for public scrutiny.
vira28 3y ago
How? Don’t the investors have the actual numbers?
- viraptor 3y ago
  Some investors will look at numbers. Others will look at the persona. (See Tesla's technically unreasonable valuation)
- achanda358 3y ago
  Not everyone reads everything, a bunch of people will just follow the market.
EricRiese 3y ago
Or it's for the HFT bots that run the press releases through sentiment analysis and make trades accordingly.
- reustle 3y ago
  <span color=“white” size=“1”>Revenue is up 800%!</span>

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 3y ago

Respectfully disagree. It's important to explain why, and he does that in a standard 3-point structure without getting too carried away on the hype train. It could be worse. Also, this part is worth emphasizing: > For those amazing Netlifolk that are leaving us today, our team is... waving [sic] the first year stock option cliff for newer employees, and extending the exercise period to 7 years. This is a classy move. They didn't have to do this, but they did. Layoffs suck, and no amount of wordsmithing on the email is really going to make a huge difference. It's worth noting and encouraging when companies at least take the time to do something for the people they're letting go. I fully agree with you on one thing, though: the word "sorry" is conspicuously missing. A little more ownership would go a long way.