[lr4444lr]

I dislike Jack going back several years, but I think in this instance he's admitting that he's taking responsibility between weighing the risk of doing this vs. not doing this. Maybe morale will tank anyway and the company will hold on, but be out-innovated by competitors that invested in growth. There are future outcomes that could prove he made the wrong call, and I any time layoffs are announced, there is a tacit mea culpa about past over-hiring.

[taurath]

> admitting that he's taking responsibility

Its funny how for him, he is enriched by this option as the stock price rises, and its couched in words like responsibility. I was taught when I failed at something that responsibility meant making amends to the people wronged. His reputation taking a hit doesn't come even close to the loss of 4000 people's livelihoods - he will not lose one of his presumably many houses.

> tacit mea culpa

This is the opposite of a mea culpa, this is saying there is no choice and the decision is inevitable, and he is only allowed (by the very framework he constructed) to do it fast or slow.

[NicuCalcea]

It's easy to take responsibility when all you have to do is say "I'm taking responsibility". Or, in his case, "i'm taking responsibility".

[HDThoreaun]

He's also giving out massive severance packages

[NicuCalcea]

Is four and a half month's pay considered massive in the US? What do you normally get when you're made redundant?

[HDThoreaun]

Id say 2 months is about normal for non tech maybe 3.5 at solid companies. This also adds a week per year at the company so plenty of people will be getting 5 months+ and $5k on top of that

[NicuCalcea]

Fair enough. It's nothing crazy by UK standards, you'd usually get your notice period paid off (2-3 months), plus another few months negotiated by your union, plus the statutory week's pay for each year worked (1.5 weeks if you're over 40). You don't normally get to keep your devices, I guess.

[nothrabannosir]

Double counting the notice period is unfair IMO. You already pay for the notice period by having the notice period when you want to quit. Companies having to pay you the notice period when they fire you is symmetrical and IMO is not a severance package. Maybe that's just my assumption, but IMO a severance package is the asymmetrical pay-out when one party quits an agreement, not the communal wager you both put down when you enter the contract.

Put another way: if both parties agree on a shorter or longer notice period, I wouldn't expect that to affect any potential severance package. It's just the notice period.

[svantana]

This site has stats. According to it, 20 weeks is way above average.

https://www.trueup.io/layoffs

[acjohnson55]

Yes, it is considered generous here. I have been laid off or taken a voluntary severance 3 times and never got anywhere near 5 months.

[SoftTalker]

I got one month and unused PTO last time I was laid off.

[turtlesdown11]

its certainly not "massive"

[tock]

Block is up 25%.

[HDThoreaun]

Down 15% yoy. Down 75% over last 5 years

[tock]

Up 25% because of his decision to layoff. He is richer from this decision.

Jack should fire himself if performance was the criteria. Like you said he has lead his company to 75% down over the last 5 years.

[wiseowise]

"Massive"

[Lammy]

It reads as hypocritical because he frames it as himself making a sacrifice when what he's really taking responsibility for is choosing the outcome that makes himself the most money.

He owns 1 million Class A shares and 79.7%(!!!) of Block's Class B shares: https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001512673/0cb664c...

[poszlem]

Insert Michael Scott shouting "I AM DECLARING BANKRUPTCY" meme. Change that to "I AM TAKING RESPONSIBILITY".

[wiseowise]

> but I think in this instance he's admitting that he's taking responsibility

What kind of responsibility is he taking, exactly? Has he stepped down? How much money has he lost when stock rose 23%?