Bitpanda said no mass layoffs, three weeks before axing one-third of staff

What are the appropriate or possible responses to being publicly asked if you&#x27;re going to do a layoff, in the case that:<p>(1) you are definitely going to do a layoff<p>(2) you have not yet decided but are considering it<p>(3) you are definitely not doing a layoff<p>In the past, HNers have mentioned that if you admit you&#x27;re going to lay people off, then your best performers will leave. Is that true? If so, what should companies say in order to be truthful and to help keep the company from falling apart?<p>Relatedly, how does a company credibly promise not to do layoffs, to put people&#x27;s minds at ease?

Every single company is guaranteed to try and assure employees the company&#x27;s doing okay.<p>Think about it for a second, regardless of if your employer intends to do layoffs or not, the moment people fear for their jobs, they&#x27;ll spend more time looking for work.<p>I prefer the quick rip the Band-Aid off lay off, give me a bit of severance, let me shake the hands of upper management and we can all move on for our lives

If your company so as mentions layoffs, even (especially?) if they deny it, they are coming. Just like a Pip, if it gets mentioned, start looking for another job

For anyone like me wondering how many 1&#x2F;3 is, they apparently reduced their workforce to 730 people, meaning they laid off 365 (or thereabouts).<p>That feels to me like a pretty big layoff, not just a headline trying to make a number sound big.

I have worked at a place where the HR manager sent out an email “Why it’s a great time to be working at X Part 1”.<p>We laid off 20% of the staff and a few days later came “Why it’s a great time to be working at X Part 2”.

Ehm they were not really careful with spending money. They had their own barista, cool startup offices and overpaid a lot for people with meh experience.<p>They did not really have anyone good to manage their finances.

Those turtlenecks.<p>Anyway, the article mentions:<p>&gt; He [chief product officer] said the company was &quot;very well funded&quot; with no liquidity problems. While he noted that its 2022 financial results were &quot;below budget,&quot; he said that this had been caused by macroeconomic conditions, including a supply crisis and the Ukraine conflict. The executive urged employees to focus on product and tech infrastructure improvements in preparation for the &quot;next bull run.&quot;<p>This is exactly the same line given by every single business. Even the White House does it. This is due to Ukraine, supply shock, and macroeconomic factors. As if this didn&#x27;t matter. As if that meant that whatever is happening can be ignored. Don&#x27;t worry, nothing to see here. It&#x27;s just special, highly unusual circumstances.<p>Except it does matter. No matter how well you wear the turtleneck eventually reality matters. Mean-reversions from bubbles matter. They are inevitable and they are painful. It&#x27;s never &quot;contained,&quot; no matter how much leadership wants you to believe it. Gear up.

Statements without any binding commitment mean nothing. Everyone should understand that.

Related:<p><i>Crypto firm Bitpanda lays off around 20% of its people</i> - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=31867839" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=31867839</a> - June 2022 (117 comments)

That photo of the founders(?) displays maximum turtle neck. Is that because of some Jobsian influence or is it an esoteric coffee house theme? Either way, it would have got my spidey-sense tingling.

Completely unrelated to this new, but I remember interviewing with them 3 years ago and had my worst interview ever. There was 2 interviewers, one lady from HR and one guy from engineering (with a hard to understand english). For some reason they thought it was a good idea to ask about concurrency on PHP and right after what were my weakness. Looking back I think I was very lucky to not make it throught.

From a purely practical perspective, it&#x27;s rarely useful to ask about layoffs. You&#x27;re unlikely to get an honest answer, and even if you were, how much trust can you put in it? All you do is signal that you&#x27;re someone who &quot;lacks commitment.&quot;<p>You just have to keep your eyes open all the time, make a judgement about how much sense things make, and make your own decisions on when things seem off.

You say there&#x27;s gonna be a layoff, then you don&#x27;t get to choose who leaves. They start to choose for themselves. You lose control.

The core business model of cryptocurrency companies is deceiving their customers, so why shouldn&#x27;t they also deceive their employees too?

&gt; Bitpanda’s chief product officer, Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, told employees via a Slack message there would be no mass layoffs, weeks before the company cut its workforce by a third.<p>If they knew of the layoffs and lied Bitpanda must be punished for it. Many employees may have made decisions based on that lie.

This is normal, management just got the news that there is no more money.

So always get the direct email of all your coworkers so you can reach them independently of your boss. Firing has a desired second-effect as destruction of evidence.

When all three founders wear turtlenecks on PR photos, you know there’s something amiss…

&#x27;promises only bind those who believe in them&#x27;. Jacques Chirac

Sad, Bitpanda is one of the best in Europe.

They do that to spread the rumor

Managers will tell you not to worry about job security, right up until the day you get a meeting invite from HR.