5 ms·

Mountain View-based Intuit to lay off 1,800 as part of an AI-focused reorg

26 points by purpleblue 2y ago

zer00eyz 2y ago
> In an email to employees, CEO Sasan Goodarzi said more than 1,000 of the layoffs were employees that were not meeting the company’s elevated expectations. Blame AI cause you over hired medium talent? Having survived the 2000 bubble there were two kinds of folks left. Those who were important enough to keep and those who were passionate enough to stay and figure out how to eat till the market recovered. If that sounds grim, it is. And there are people of people who survived that time working bullshit jobs. My good friend talks about doing side gigs while working in the liquor store. About getting bumped off his dial up every time someone used the ATM. Coming out of that grim period was an amazing time (2003 onward). Talent was all that was left, and they were chomping at the bit to start up interesting products and projects.
- seanmcdirmid 2y ago
  We have busts where people wash out every decade or so. You aren't really senior until you survived at least one bust, two busts you should already have your FU money to do whatever you want.
etc-hosts 2y ago
The fact that filing your taxes is a 14 billion dollar industry is very depressing.
reducesuffering 2y ago
> Intuit will also close offices in Boise, Idaho and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada where more than 250 employees work. They acquired a profitable company, TSheets Boise, and then just layoffed the entire thing years later? Product acquired so screw the people that built it?
- klyrs 2y ago
  Seven years after the merger, one year after the founder attempted a murder/suicide? Not sure what you expected here.
  - nequo 2y ago
    Wait, what do you think that event reveals about TSheets? Rissell would already have cashed out by then, wouldn’t he?
    - klyrs 2y ago
      You're not getting the band back together. I've never heard of an organization surviving more than about a year after being acquired, much less get preserved by a parent company in its death throes. If there was any chance of that happening, it'd take morale and unity behind a long-respected leader, plus a ton of cash to de-acquire the company.
- justsomehnguy 2y ago
  >> In 2006, Rissell co-founded TSheets, a digital time-tracking and employee scheduling application for web and mobile applications. The local firm worked closely with California-based Intuit Inc. for several years before the latter bought TSheets in December 2017 for approximately $340 million.
benlivengood 2y ago
With luck, IRS free file will become available in more states.
lupire 2y ago
Doubt. Laying people off because the free money train ended. Doing AI because it's the fad of the moment. Not causal.
- mech422 2y ago
  They've had custom expert systems to help fill out the forms for years (decades?), so I find it hard to believe AI is really making a huge difference...
metadat 2y ago
Official announcement: https://www.intuit.com/blog/news-social/investing-in-our-future/ https://www.intuit.com/blog/news-social/investing-in-our-fut...
tacticalturtle 2y ago
> In an email to employees, CEO Sasan Goodarzi said more than 1,000 of the layoffs were employees that were not meeting the company’s elevated expectations. Seems cold to disclose something like that in writing when it’s inevitably going to be leaked externally. Now anyone hiring from that cohort is going to know a decent number were terminated for performance reasons, and even those who were lost jobs from regular restructuring will be caught up in it. Would have been better for everyone to keep it vague.
- tgma 2y ago
  Pretty much every layoff, including restructurings, are likely to select for the underperforming individuals. No additional signal really. Usually it is sugared over to pamper people's feelings.
  - nextworddev 2y ago
    Lay off priorities: bad manager feedback > visa holders > performance > bad peer feedback
- banish-m4 2y ago
  It's corporate BS to blame the victim, the employees. Suddenly create new, surprise, unrealistic expectations proving the existing performance review process was also bullshit and not based on fair, consistent, objective merit. Trust lost for everyone staying and everyone going. They didn't do themselves any favors.
- racional 2y ago
  Indeed, it seems the calculated coldness of the carefully chosen phrasing was precisely the point.
- dghlsakjg 2y ago
  I’ve known plenty of very good workers that had a layoff in their resume. Anyone who thinks that a layoff is a reflection on a worker just hasn’t been around corporations long enough. Even if the c-suite says it is performance related.
ashu1461 2y ago
How does being AI focused you need less people ?
nine_zeros 2y ago
Intuit just gave another reason to not be their customer. Can't wait for IRS free file.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40926656 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40926656

26 points by purpleblue 2y ago

> In an email to employees, CEO Sasan Goodarzi said more than 1,000 of the layoffs were employees that were not meeting the company’s elevated expectations. Blame AI cause you over hired medium talent? Having survived the 2000 bubble there were two kinds of folks left. Those who were important enough to keep and those who were passionate enough to stay and figure out how to eat till the market recovered. If that sounds grim, it is. And there are people of people who survived that time working bullshit jobs. My good friend talks about doing side gigs while working in the liquor store. About getting bumped off his dial up every time someone used the ATM. Coming out of that grim period was an amazing time (2003 onward). Talent was all that was left, and they were chomping at the bit to start up interesting products and projects.

seanmcdirmid 2y ago
We have busts where people wash out every decade or so. You aren't really senior until you survived at least one bust, two busts you should already have your FU money to do whatever you want.

etc-hosts 2y ago

The fact that filing your taxes is a 14 billion dollar industry is very depressing.

reducesuffering 2y ago

> Intuit will also close offices in Boise, Idaho and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada where more than 250 employees work. They acquired a profitable company, TSheets Boise, and then just layoffed the entire thing years later? Product acquired so screw the people that built it?

klyrs 2y ago
Seven years after the merger, one year after the founder attempted a murder/suicide? Not sure what you expected here.
- nequo 2y ago
  Wait, what do you think that event reveals about TSheets? Rissell would already have cashed out by then, wouldn’t he?
  - klyrs 2y ago
    You're not getting the band back together. I've never heard of an organization surviving more than about a year after being acquired, much less get preserved by a parent company in its death throes. If there was any chance of that happening, it'd take morale and unity behind a long-respected leader, plus a ton of cash to de-acquire the company.
justsomehnguy 2y ago
>> In 2006, Rissell co-founded TSheets, a digital time-tracking and employee scheduling application for web and mobile applications. The local firm worked closely with California-based Intuit Inc. for several years before the latter bought TSheets in December 2017 for approximately $340 million.

benlivengood 2y ago

With luck, IRS free file will become available in more states.

lupire 2y ago

Doubt. Laying people off because the free money train ended. Doing AI because it's the fad of the moment. Not causal.

mech422 2y ago
They've had custom expert systems to help fill out the forms for years (decades?), so I find it hard to believe AI is really making a huge difference...

metadat 2y ago

Official announcement: https://www.intuit.com/blog/news-social/investing-in-our-future/ https://www.intuit.com/blog/news-social/investing-in-our-fut...

tacticalturtle 2y ago

> In an email to employees, CEO Sasan Goodarzi said more than 1,000 of the layoffs were employees that were not meeting the company’s elevated expectations. Seems cold to disclose something like that in writing when it’s inevitably going to be leaked externally. Now anyone hiring from that cohort is going to know a decent number were terminated for performance reasons, and even those who were lost jobs from regular restructuring will be caught up in it. Would have been better for everyone to keep it vague.

tgma 2y ago
Pretty much every layoff, including restructurings, are likely to select for the underperforming individuals. No additional signal really. Usually it is sugared over to pamper people's feelings.
- nextworddev 2y ago
  Lay off priorities: bad manager feedback > visa holders > performance > bad peer feedback
banish-m4 2y ago
It's corporate BS to blame the victim, the employees. Suddenly create new, surprise, unrealistic expectations proving the existing performance review process was also bullshit and not based on fair, consistent, objective merit. Trust lost for everyone staying and everyone going. They didn't do themselves any favors.
racional 2y ago
Indeed, it seems the calculated coldness of the carefully chosen phrasing was precisely the point.
dghlsakjg 2y ago
I’ve known plenty of very good workers that had a layoff in their resume. Anyone who thinks that a layoff is a reflection on a worker just hasn’t been around corporations long enough. Even if the c-suite says it is performance related.

ashu1461 2y ago

How does being AI focused you need less people ?

nine_zeros 2y ago

Intuit just gave another reason to not be their customer. Can't wait for IRS free file.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40926656 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40926656