Hacker News Reader

Comment by para_parolu | Hacker News Reader

This also a reason why starting a business in USA is usually better.

Economics is hardly a reproducible science, but an American company has basically instant access to 350 million consumers (and workers) with no language barrier and little inter-state red tape.

It's hard to imagine that this isn't a larger differentiator than the ability to fire hundreds at will.

You would be surprised. Don’t think about it as firing but also being overly cautious. If you run a division in the EU you are overly thoughtful for every single HC you add. You don’t take risks because that HC at minimum is going to cost a year of severance. It’s a balancing act, maybe less new jobs but you get less layoffs.

Presumably you aren’t paying 52 weeks of severance to someone you hired three months ago.

That’s right but depending on country there may be other legal requirements necessary so the costs tend to add up quickly and on average when you peak behind the curtains at an EU company you see it’s often easier to retain low performing members than it is to go through legal expenses and the notice period. You tend to be more thoughtful if you want to add HC on that region and avoid restructuring the company.

Maybe it works out on average but there are distinct pros and cons. On the net you get less job creation, less innovation and on the flip employees have more protection from being fired.

Perhaps, but one does have to wonder why the US favors making life easier for founders and venture capitalists over making life more livable for people who aren’t already rich.

Like, a while back my employer had 10% layoffs, and their most profitable year ever, in the same year. There’s a real reason why that happened, ans the reason is that the C suite seriously fucked up on managing the company’s finances. In a sane world they should be the first to bear the consequences. Instead they got fat bonuses while hundreds of people who had no part in creating the problem lost their jobs. And the moral justification for a society that allows this is somehow, “But isn’t it great that it’s easier for privileged people to play fast and loose like that?” That is, at best, circular reasoning.

Would you rather they never hire those people? Because that is one option.

>Would you rather they never hire those people? Because that is one option.

Yup, and that way those people should be hired by companies who are in it for the long term and not looking just at the next quarter (and using hiring as a way to deny employees to competitors).

I don't think there exists a company (at least in the US, in Asia they do have "lifetime employment" system even though that gets eroded too) that can promise it will never have a layoff. Did you know any such company that when it hires you it would tell you "we're here for the long term so you will never laid off, no matter what"?

I too was young and idealistic at one point.

You should start that company and guarantee that you will never lay anyone off.

Will you do it? Why not? Please don't make excuses. If it's easy, you should be able to!

>You should start that company and guarantee that you will never lay anyone off.

Long term does not mean "never". It just means looking beyond the next quarter and/or hiring based on business needs and not based on hype or a target eps.

It’s not like countries that decided against kleptocracy are drowning in unemployment. On the contrary, they often enjoy a happier population, a better standard of living, or both.

Well, millions of people risk their lives to come to the USA. There is a reason for that. While many come to be takers and abuse the system, many come because of the freedom to take care of your own destiny without expecting someone else to take care of their lives.

> Perhaps, but one does have to wonder why the US favors making life easier for founders and venture capitalists over making life more livable for people who aren’t already rich.

because US government is more controlled by business interests than population voting power.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com