This is probably the ancestor of "graduation" layoffs?

Recently, the topic of layoffs as "graduation" by some big Internet companies has been hotly debated for a long time.

In the morning, DD saw an article on the Internet, and seemed to find the ancestor of this practice. It turns out that such a "creative" operation has already been done well many years ago, so it is actually an imported product?

In this article, published in April 2016, according to the author: He worked for the software company HubSpot for nearly two years, and when someone was fired, it was called a "graduation." At the moment of "graduation" they all get a cheerful email from their boss telling them that XX has graduated and we're all excited to see how she uses her super on her next big adventure ability.

One day, this happened to a friend of the author. She was 35 and had been with the company for four years when her manager, 28, told her without explanation that she had two weeks off. On her last day at work, the manager organized a farewell party for her.

This reminds DD of this message from a netizen before...

This one is very realistic and brutal, but everyone at HubSpot acts like it's completely normal. Employees are taught that we are "rock stars" who "inspire" and "change the world." But in fact, everyone is one-time.

Many tech companies are proud of this culture. Amazon has been constantly criticized for its unpleasant environment, most notably in a long-form exposé in the Financial Times last year (which should have been the year before this article, 2015). Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said people who didn't like the company's exhausting environment were free to go and work elsewhere. He also wrote in a letter to shareholders: "We have never claimed that what we are doing is right, only that it is what we are doing, and we have assembled a group of like-minded people over the past 20 years." Some The statement suggests that Bezos at least appears to be aware that it's not normal for employees to cry at their desks.

Treating employees as disposable gadgets is a core part of the employer-employee relationship, an innovation that technologists say is as important as chips and software. This model originated in Silicon Valley, but it is spreading. Old-fashioned companies are also hiring "growth hackers" and building "incubators." They see Silicon Valley as a model of enlightenment and forward thinking, even though this "new" way of working is actually the oldest game in the world: capital exploiting labor .

HubSpot was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2006 and went public in 2014. It's one of those shiny, fast-growing startups these days with bean bags and unlimited vacation time, a corporate utopia that doesn't require work-life balance because work is life and life is work.

The author joined the company in 2013 after 25 years in the news industry before being fired from Newsweek's top job. He thinks it would be great to work in a startup, with great perks and a cool office!

As it turns out, it's really just joining a digital sweatshop, with people huddled together in large rooms, sitting side by side at long tables. Instead of hunching over and staring at sewing machines, they stare at laptops or bark into headphones, selling software.

Tech workers have no job security. 'You're going through a period of possible A "duty tour" that lasts one to two years. Companies will drain your energy and drive you away when better or cheaper ones are available. "Your company is not your family," is another quote from Hoffman's book.

His idea goes back to a "cultural code" that Netflix released in 2009, which declared, "We are a team, not a family." Netflix considers itself a sports team and always wants "every position There are stars". In this new work model, employees should feel completely dedicated and loyal to the company, even if the boss doesn't feel obligated to do so in return.

Unfortunately, working at a start-up can often be tricked by undertrained (or untrained) managers and fired on a whim. Bias based on age, race and gender is rampant, as is sexual harassment. Free snacks are nice, but you also have to put up with a head full of stupid jargon and ideologies about a mission to change the world. The company is still losing money while selling shares to the public. Wealth is created, but most of it goes to the few at the top, the founders and venture capital investors.

Netflix's code has been emulated by countless other companies, including HubSpot, which employs a measure called VORP, which is valued above alternative players. This brutal idea comes from the baseball world, and it's used to price players. At HubSpot, we get a VORP score in our annual assessment. It should feel scientific and part of a "data-driven organization," as management puts it.

The author's office is located in a renovated 19th-century factory built by furniture maker AH Davenport. Skilled artisans once meticulously carved custom pieces in cavernous red-brick rooms -- woodworking treasures that can now be found in museums and the White House -- and now it's teeming with young people who spend hours calling potential clients. Phone calls, scrambling to meet strict monthly quotas, algorithmically measuring their productivity. "Business development reps" are actually people glorified as telemarketers, and they make about $3,000 a month, which equates to $18.75 an hour if you work 40 hours a week, although many work longer hours.

Toiling off the phone, trying to hit a number, hanging up on a machine watching you work, is that progress? People who work in furniture factories may also lead difficult lives. They certainly don't have a beer garden like the workers at HubSpot. On the other hand, they didn't go through weeks of training and felt eerily like cult indoctrination, they were told they could use their "superpowers" to "change people's lives" by spreading "happiness" to their clients.

"If I had a choice, I think I'd rather make furniture," the author said.

This is probably what we mean by lying flat, right?

The above content comes from: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/opinion/sunday/congratulations-youve-been-fired.html , interested friends can also read the original text. Learn about some of the feelings of those who traveled far in the beautiful country.

I don't know the author's experience and feelings, have you found some similar shadows or other touches? Welcome to leave a message. Of course, this is just a family talk. DD has never worked in Silicon Valley, so he doesn’t know much about the real situation there, so he doesn’t know whether it’s true or common. If you have any understanding, you are welcome to leave a message to share your experience and give you some reference.

Welcome to my public account: Programmer DD. Learn about cutting-edge industry news for the first time, share in-depth technical dry goods, and obtain high-quality learning resources