This process as Stripe reads as exceptionally cold and distanced to me. There's an ongoing downsizing at my workplace as well right now, and it's going a little like this:
* Change in strategy and its consequences announced together in all-hands
* Company strategy changed to focus less on rapid growth (something we'd been structured for) due to major changes in capital markets
* All personnell changes are made directly to support and enable this change in strategy
* No departures outside of C-suite had been determined at the point of announcement
* Immediately after announcement, groups of teams gathered in breakout sessions to learn of changes to their structure
* All changes are based on roles and not specific individuals
* Everyone gets to be considered for new roles if their existing role changes, or if they wish to change roles
* New managers to be decided about one week after announcement
* Changes to IC positions to be determined within two weeks after that
* Nobody will get a notice before a consultation meeting
* HR and leadership are holding all-hands about every third day during the process, for QA and updates
--
Mass layoffs by email just seems so immensely inhuman by this comparison. I wish everyone leaving Stripe as part of this all the best, and I hope you find great and inspiring opportunities <3
I just went through it and I think they did it properly. Effectively the process went like this:
At 9am PST we received the email, a minute or 2 later we received another email, "If your role is being impacted you will receive an email in the next 15 minutes." Then, 15 minutes later, we received another email "If you haven't received an email, you haven't been impacted."
There was only 15 minutes of uncertainty for everybody. It felt well considered. Cold, maybe, but quick.
I was impacted in a different manner. A small group of people were logged out of everything, including email, around 8am ET. This was before Patrick’s email went out. I thought I wasn’t going to get to say goodbye to my coworkers. It was not fun.
This process as Stripe reads as exceptionally cold and distanced to me. There's an ongoing downsizing at my workplace as well right now, and it's going a little like this:
* Change in strategy and its consequences announced together in all-hands
* Company strategy changed to focus less on rapid growth (something we'd been structured for) due to major changes in capital markets
* All personnell changes are made directly to support and enable this change in strategy
* No departures outside of C-suite had been determined at the point of announcement
* Immediately after announcement, groups of teams gathered in breakout sessions to learn of changes to their structure
* All changes are based on roles and not specific individuals
* Everyone gets to be considered for new roles if their existing role changes, or if they wish to change roles
* New managers to be decided about one week after announcement
* Changes to IC positions to be determined within two weeks after that
* Nobody will get a notice before a consultation meeting
* HR and leadership are holding all-hands about every third day during the process, for QA and updates
--
Mass layoffs by email just seems so immensely inhuman by this comparison. I wish everyone leaving Stripe as part of this all the best, and I hope you find great and inspiring opportunities <3
EDIT: Formatting