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Comment by musk_micropenis | Hacker News Reader

> To be clear, as much as I believe this to be necessary it is not a reflection of me not caring for those we are asking to leave - this day leaves a scar on my soul. MessageBird is my legacy, the company I give my everything for every single day and would sacrifice almost anything for.

There is nothing more distasteful to me than the CEO harping on about how hard these lay-offs are for them.

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Agreed. Don't say how upset you are, show it by offering generous severance packages (including health insurance!), job placement help, and anything else that can make the transition less painful for people.

The layoff package seems fairly generous:

- "Settlement - We will pay 3 months of compensation for all departing employees, and more for those with longer tenure."

- "Bonus. We will pay a prorated bonus to all eligible departing employees"

- "Individual & career support. We’ll do our best to connect departing employees with other companies and professional networks as well as other useful sources that may help you navigate through this difficult time"

- "Immigration support. We know that this situation is particularly tough for departing employees who currently work on a visa. We have made individual arrangements for you in order to accommodate better for your particular situation"

I think 3 months is the statutory minimum in many if not most of the places they employ people, if I'm not mistaken.

Doubtful - they have done enough acquisitions to have tons of US employees.

They are offering literally all of these things

I don't get why people on this site have such a strong reaction to CEO's expressing sadness and regret when they lay people off

I think the visceral reaction some of us have has to do with making this about the poor CEO (who is still a multimillionaire, and still has a job) and not the people who lost their jobs. I would hope he feels terrible, even if it's 100% the only choice to keep the business afloat (which is far from clear, but is at least possible), but he can keep that to himself.

Yes.

It's reasonable to assume that any somewhat socially competent person doesn't relish the idea of letting people go.

That should be a given.

And taking responsibility is just restating the fact that the CEO has all the power while (in this case) nothing the individual employee could do would have prevented it.

The CEO did not fire himself for failing and is (probably) still wealthy and doesn't need to potentially uproot his life.

"Sorry" doesn't buy you anything.

It's a given which is why every layoff statement includes it. It would seem socially incompetent for the CEO to not take the blame

" The decision today is more painful for the Birds leaving than it will be for me and I won't pretend I understand what they will go through. I alone made the mistakes leading up to this and I should have seen it coming earlier"

I just don't read this as making it about himself. I also don't understand how you could write one of these without having a "I fucked up and feel really bad about it" sections. He should just announce the layoffs with no context about how the company got here under his leadership?

The original comment on this tree has much more "about me" language directly quoted. His legacy, he would sacrifice anything, scar on his soul, etc. I agree though you can't just say nothing, you have to take ownership and express empathy.

These messages are hard to balance; he is writing a message to the laid off staff, the staff staying on, and the public.

The "I'm sad about this" is aimed at the remaining staff. He wants to retain the appearance of being empathetic and authentic as a leader. But in doing so he comes across as self-centred to the other audiences.

> (including health insurance!)

MessageBird seems located in The Netherlands. For those living in NL health insurance costs €1500-1800/year & deductibles €385/year, employed or on social benefits. They are never paid by the employer.

> (including health insurance!)

I think they’re European?

A CEO is also an employee, who works for the owner(s) of the company. They're also going to have to answer for the company's poor performance.

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