I was laid off by kinder, gentler capitalism | Hacker News Reader

I was laid off by kinder, gentler capitalism

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17 pointsherbertl18 comments

What the hell is this bootlicking attitude?

You got laid off because the company did not have the balls to put you above their quarterly earnings report.

They even time your layoff to better please the hawks at Wall Street.

> did not have the balls to put you above their quarterly earnings report.

And why would they put me (not the OP, but it applies to me too) above their earnings? I don't put them above my salary. People talk about loyalty. I don't have loyalty. As long as I work for an employer, I will give my best. But I don't feel any sort of duty to stay with an employer forever, and certainly to stick with an employer if another one can offer me a better deal.

In my experience those who profess "loyalty" just can't get a job if they go on the job market. They stick with the current employer not out of a sense of loyalty, but just for a lack of alternatives.

Given that, why should I expect anything else in return? As long as my employer considers that I add value, they'll pay me. When I don't, they'll cut me. They are not the Red Cross, or Mother Theresa. It's not personal, it's just business.

Compassion, empathy, etc, should be the domain of charitable organizations, or of the government. Not of private enterprises.

Yes, that is the current sentiment. This is not the way it was for boomers. Loyalty did work both ways.

I completely disagree with your final statement. Compassion, empathy, etc. are the domains of ANY human activities and organizations.

I'm not advocating for the way things were, but businesses must treat people like people and not factory parts.

And let's not ignore the fact that if you have family or even just rent obligations you cannot just pack-up overnight and move to wherever the opportunity lies.

(That is if your work is not fully remote)

> businesses must treat people like people and not factory parts

And businesses are not treating them like factory parts. This round of layoffs is an exception. Such layoffs did not happen in the US since 2008-09. The young generation is unused to them, and so the shock and anger. But just the fact that industry-wide layoffs like that are so rare can show you that businesses actually try to avoid them. Not necessarily because they have a heart of gold, but there's a certain amount of friction in reducing your workforce.

Tech is the most progressive companies. They’re mostly not what I’m referring to.

Yet working fulltime is almost never just business. You have overworked because your boss begged you to, or because a colleague was drowning. You have made personal sacrifices to take an initiative to the finish line.

But even at the selfishness level, you go above and beyond because the company promised you that they will reward you at the end of it, either with promotion or compensation. And instead, they throw you away.

From the "article":

> I was the lead creative strategist on brand values communications for our Sustainability, Philanthropy, Equality and ethical technology teams.

My guess is that the author hopes to get back on board, sooner or later.

> “Ohana” is a Hawaiian word that means “chosen family” and Marc’s term of affection for the Salesforce community.

Come on, people, I'm trying to eat breakfast here.

I kind of expect this attitude from younger workers but it's baffling to see from someone who's been in the workforce longer.

It does not even sound like sarcasm, I'm baffled.

Writer is a marketing strategist. I suppose this is self-promotion in a way.

The final paragraph:

> So to circle back to the initial question,

Really invokes Poe's law[1] though. I suspect, intentionally (those looking for it might see the satire, whereas the types of people who are meant to be impressed by the attitude and outlook will leave impressed)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

Not just a "marketing strategist", no less than

> ... lead creative strategist on brand values communications for our Sustainability, Philanthropy, Equality and ethical technology teams

and

> ... lead content strategist on the Team Earth brand campaign, which espouses stakeholder capitalism ...

So, a professional greenwasher, in other words.

Must be real good, too. Judging by HN comments one would think they successfully washed away the stench of their Backpage work.

They should be thankful they were coerced into sex work with tools of kinder, gentler capitalism.

I have no idea what you're talking about, and I suspect that makes two of us.

According to Kübler-Ross, the five stages of grief, in order are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

Let me know when the author gets to anger.

> The takeaway for some folks still at Salesforce is that working hard and doing everything right may not ultimately matter.

Welcome to the real world.

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