On being laid off

I got laid off.

Like so many other companies this year, Pleo has been forced to restructure, and, as a result, laid off 15% of its workforce from one day to the next – including me.

Last Thursday, I woke up, got my son ready for school, had five minutes to spare so checked my mail, and boom; “Your role is impacted by a company-wide restructure.”

I got halfway to work that morning before turning around and going home.

Slack exploded. No one knew who was staying and who was leaving. Jeppe, the CEO, was visibly emotional during the company announcement on Zoom. People silently wiped their eyes. People had their cameras turned off. People had their cameras turned on. Not a single smile. It was tough.

Eventually, I closed my computer and stared into space.

It took me a while to realise that what I felt was grief. Pure and simple. I am so very sad that I can’t continue my journey at Pleo. I thought I’d be there for years. I should have been there for years. It just got better and better. After tripling headcount within a year, the dust had finally begun to settle and the teams, structures and processes were forming which would help us drive our teams and areas forward. The content team was just on the cusp of going from great, to really great. It is so incredibly frustrating that I can’t be a part of that.

And the people. What a fantastic bunch of humans.

What ties us together is a shared connection to our values. After all, a company’s values and mission is what grounds its people, and is the glue that holds everyone together.

One of the very last tasks I did before closing my computer on Wednesday was a small do-me-a-favour task; a sense and grammar check of a presentation before it went to the designers. It was all about culture and how important it is to make your values part of the hiring process, and Pleo does exactly that.

The last step of the five-step interview process at Pleo is a values interview. The job is basically in the bag, so the interviewee relaxes. They’re a little more themselves, unguarded in a way they’ve not been during the other steps.

How are you? Where do you live? How do you feel about Pleo? Plans for the weekend? Plans for your role at Pleo? That kind of thing.

The interviews are always fun to do (my favourite, incidentally, was Jack Mackie. An extremely affable social media manager who turned Pleo’s social media accounts around in the all-to-brief time he was there (another victim of the restructure). If you need a social media manager, snap him up; he won’t be free for long).

It helps make sure we all get along. And we do (we did). Which makes it so heartbreaking to have it taken away.

So, I spent the weekend focusing on my son. We went to the countryside.

We played Rotten Sprouts. Labyrinth. We built LEGO sets. We watched a couple of films. We went for a walk under the blue sky and warmed our faces in the warm autumnal sunshine. We sat in front of a fire and talked about Christmas. It was healing.

And now, Monday morning, I’m here. Looking at LinkedIn.

I know it’ll be OK. I know it was all beyond my control. I know I’ll find something that’ll make me look back and be grateful for everything that happened. Because life, as a wise man once said, is a rollercoaster. Just gotta ride it.

Anyway. Hire me. I’m available.

Chapter 11 of the WWW

Well these weeks just fly by, don't they. Another week, another week of what is mostly meaningless crap, which will all be forgotten by Monday - if not already. But that's life. That reminds me, I came across a thread on reddit asking what phrases we used to use (by 'we' it mean people my age-ish, e.g. 30+), that are, or will be soon, meaningless. I'm going to go through it and make a best of, because there were some golden ones in there. Anyway, here's some already meaningless crap. Enjoy!

Procrastination is always a good place to start. If you use Chrome, disconnect from the internet, try to load a page, hit space, and see how far you get. 

PuppySwap is a genius way to get a puppy in your life - and keep it. Who wants a grown up dog? They're not half as cute. 

It's really a very clever campaign for the Toronto Humane Society, tackling pet abandonment. Over 180,000 animals enter Canadian shelters each year, and 40% will never leave. Ouch. 

You might have heard of Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson's record making free-climb of the sheer face of El Capitan. It's an absolutely astounding feat, and if you don't believe me, look at this wonderful interactive site from the NY Times. You can see more photos here. They're really worth a look. 

Like zombies? Like parkour? Then you'll like this. Go full screen, it's worth it. 

I was going to write about the genius idea of sending glitter to people you hate, but it seems it because so successful, so quickly, the guy who started it has already made a huge amount of money and has put the site up for sale. The modern world never ceases to amaze me. 

Here's another form of sending things, albeit a slightly more digital version. You can send file, anywhere (e.g. from PC to iPhone). It's simple and smart and one of those things you'll forget about in a moment. 

Here are some bonkers photos of NYC at night. Are they real? Yes. 

Life is like a box of chocolates. Or a donut. 

If you're not sure how big your country is compared to another country, then check this out. Just add the two countries you want to compare, and boom, there you have it. 

That's it, folks. See you next week.