How is that better for the employee, though? All that's happened is that the employee took a substantial pay cut in exchange for having serious risk placed on them. Risk which is extremely tilted against them.
This is also ignoring the fact that most companies will dilute the hell out of your options, so even if the company does make it, odds are you'll just have broken even from working for a regular company.
I appreciate your view but I took OP's comment differently.
"Your job is not safe" in my view means you should treat work as if you are a mercenary. Treat every role as short term, go in do the job, get paid and always be looking for the next better thing, no emotional ties. Be prepared to cut them before they cut you.
I feel like it would actually drive salaries up as people move to higher paying roles and companies scramble to keep people that they would have otherwise expected to remain for years.
For context, I once worked at company A for 2 years then got a new job offer for 20% more than I currently made. I accepted the offer and then told my VP that I got a new job and the offer was 35% more. He matched the 35% so I stayed for another year and then got a new job for 25% more than that. A little after that, Company A started doing layoffs. If I had been loyal I would have likely been laid off, instead I left with a much higher salary because I was loyal only to the money.
Companies used to be loyal but no longer are, your job is not safe.
Perhaps we actually are on the same page in principal as I agree with all of your other suggestions "diversifying your options, building an emergency fund, have a fulfilling life outside work" just a different take on the original comment.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. There are plenty of other lower risk companies that have way lower chances of layoffs, but they don't pay as well. Working at a company that tasks risks and has a high rate of return also has a higher chance of making the wrong bet and needing to cut you. If you want a perfectly stable job go work in the government: you'll be practically unfirable.
- someone who was layed off from a FAANG corp. I was not done a disservice, I knew what I was getting into.
I'd gladly take a pay cut to work somewhere I enjoy, at a company that cares about employees. Unfortunately I have student loans taking $2500 a month, and a disabled family member to take care of. The next five years at this huge tech company is going to be hell. I just hope that when I can afford to quit I still have my soul.
I like it except for one problem. I never leave a job unless I have a job. Seems too risky to jump ship from a good job where you're under paid to get a chance at a little more money.
Considering that they worked for $ beforehand and will likely not get more than $ at other places, there is at least the theoretical possibility that it didn't all turn to shit and that they would choose to continue working at the company for the same reason they initially started working there.
Then you go somewhere else. Nobody forces you to take a job with extra risks and a contractual situation that allows others to pull the rug out from under you when the pay-off materializes.
Really, the only potentially bad contracts are the ones that you've signed. So as long as you haven't signed you have negotiation room and if your choice is between being paid 'market rates' versus being paid 'half of market rate + options' and those options are subject to change without notice then you're just setting yourself up for being hurt if you chose the second.
Nothing is set in stone, that's more a matter of self-confidence and knowing when to walk away.
also, do not give a million dollar bonus to executives in the same year.
Before I got laid off, someone in my friend circle asked me a question, would you quit your job if your employer gave you a 2 1/2 month pay just for quitting?
I thought about it for a day and it sounded like a great idea. That's almost same amount YC gives you to start a start-up.
When My manager along with HR announced the news to me, there was a broad smile on my face to their confusion. It did not make me feel bad at all.
Definitely, and I don't mean it to sound like these people couldn't be making better choices, but once you've dug your hole deep enough, it's hard to ever get to a point where you can be "safe" from this sort of thing. Even if they knew, for example, that the company was shutting down for a month starting in six months, the likelihood of being able to stow away ~ two paychecks during that window is quite small.
Like my sibling post, I can't imagine accepting a pay cut from a current employer unless I received something valuable in return. I'd accept either better benefits (401k matching, better health insurance or equivalent but at a reduced personal cost, something) or more paid time off. But if I was making strictly less than I did before, without receiving something I valued in return I'd be looking for a new job.
What happened to you happened to a friend of mine, and he refused to leave the job. Salaried to hourly. Then leave changed from sick leave being something you could take easily to requiring it to be dire circumstances and a doctor's note. This past year they changed their pension plan from X% per year of service to Y% (Y < X). Seriously, if a company is willing to cut one benefit, they'll find a way to cut the rest unless there's enough unrest (and even then, most seem to prefer going bankrupt and getting bought out).
totally. i did this back in 2009. 20% pay cut, to reclaim 50% of my day (in just travel time).
And for that, they've got someone who rarely is off sick, isn't too bothered if work runs over my usual office hours...and I've rejected multiple "in the office" jobs for up to twice my wages.
Took a salary cut for another job.
Haven't regretted the choice for a second: life's too short to waste one's talent in service to a bad employer.
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