The Scoop #44: Big Tech’s Struggle to Lay Off in Europe
Also: a deep dive into the compensation philosophy of Mercedes-Benz, total comp drops at Amazon, and a roundup of new salary transparency websites.
The Scoop is a bonus series covering insights, patterns, and trends I observe and hear about within Big Tech and at high growth startups. Have a scoop to share? Send me a message! I treat all such messages as anonymous.
Today's topics are:
Big Tech realizes quick layoffs in Europe can’t be done. Meta and Amazon are realizing what companies like Microsoft and Uber learned the hard way: that in Europe you cannot hire fast, then fire fast. I share my first-hand experience of Uber’s 2019 and 2020 layoffs in the Netherlands, and what employee protection might mean for Big Tech and hiring in Europe. Exclusive.
Mercedes-Benz’s compensation philosophy. A deep dive into how software engineers at the German car maker are paid in Germany, and the influence the country’s biggest worker’s union plays in salary bands. Exclusive.
Unexpectedly big raises at Hubspot. I’ve talked with an engineering manager who’s been surprised by how high compensation increases are at the publicly traded tech company. Exclusive.
Total compensation drops at Amazon. This week is when engineers at Amazon learn their compensation rises. Engineers told me how things are going, and I’ve heard disappointment and a drop in total compensation. Exclusive.
Salary transparency websites. On the back of US salary transparency regulations, two new salary transparency websites have launched, built by the creators of Levels.fyi and Layoffs.fyi. I talked to both teams to learn how they were developed. Exclusive.
The Scoop sometimes delivers first hand, original reporting. I’m adding an ‘Exclusive’ label to news that features original reporting direct from my sources, as distinct from analysis, opinion, and reaction to events. Of course, I also analyze what’s happening in the tech industry, citing other media sources and quoting them as I dive into trends I observe. These sections do not carry the ‘Exclusive’ mark.