<p><pre><code> > Human resources and insurance software startup Zenefits
> has announced that 250 employees are being made redundant,
> representing 17 percent of the company’s workforce.
</code></pre>
Before "being made redundant' became empty buzzspeak, it had a very specific meaning: When things are restructured in such a way that two people end up doing the same job, one becomes redundant. For example, if you have an in-house recruiting team, and you become aqui-hired by BigCo, they may decide that all recruiting will be handled by their existing team, and your recruiting team becomes redundant.<p>Notice that the job to be done is still there, it's just that the company has more people doing it than necessary.<p>But in this case, the company is laying off a lot of its sales force and recruiting team while mumbling further content-free buzzwords about refocusing its strategy. Meaning, they aren't growing any more, so they won't be selling as much or recruiting as much.<p>The job to be done is no longer there. Therefore, those aren't redundancies, those are layoffs, pure and simple.<p>The distinction is important, because "redundancies" can arise as you grow (e.g. acquiring), but "layoffs" imply that the engine is sputtering. Eliminating redundancies is a matter of optimization. Laying people off is a matter of scaling back your ambitions.<p>The company is obviously trying to spin this, and VentureBeat is regurgitating their press release word-for-word without any editorial oversight whatsoever.
We are using zenefits and gusto right now.<p>Gusto is pushing to switch for benefits management, but it's a bunch of work.<p>I feel a little gross about staying with zenefits after hearing about their company, but it's mostly free and seems to work.<p>They are also offering some other services like 401k, shift management and stock options planning.<p>I'm sure at some point I'll consolidate on one of these platforms, but right now they don't seem stable.
Layoffs are never fun... sad :(<p>For the more biz-minded commenters out there: does laying off sales + recruiting signal a specific scenario (other than the obvious recent legal woes)? Rather than laying off engineers?
This is too bad, I feel sorry for the company in a way. This was a company I kept up with because it was fun seeing their growth.
I didn't see the negative side of the culture until after Conrad stepped down and all hell broke loose.
How does a company, especially a nascent one like Zeenfits, survive in a space when they've suffered this type of hit? An industry all about trust and conservatism and a company playing fast and loose with the rules? Can it work out?
It irritates me that engineers never get laid off.<p>This means companies still view their engineering workforces as "scarce" and hard to get, because they aren't paying market wages. Why is it only sales that gets the ax?