Atlassian Terminates 150 Staff With Pre-Recorded Video (cyberdaily.au) 41
Atlassian laid off 150 employees via a pre-recorded video. "While not specifically outlined, the affected staff seem to be from the company's European operations, with The Australian saying that Cannon-Brooke's overshared that it would be difficult to axe its European staff due to contract arrangements, but that the company had already begun moving in that direction," reports CyberDaily. While the company claims the cuts weren't directly caused by AI, it has simultaneously rolled out AI-enhanced customer service tools and emphasized automation as a key part of its digital transformation strategy. From the report: Atlassian CEO and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes sent the video titled "Restructuring the CSS Team: A Difficult Decision for Our Future" to staff on Wednesday morning (30 July), informing them that 150 staff had been made redundant. The video reportedly did not make it seem that the decision was difficult, but rather said it would allow its staff "to say goodbye." The video itself did not announce who was leaving, but it told employees they would have to wait 15 minutes for an email about their employment. Those who were terminated had their laptops blocked immediately. They reportedly will receive six months' pay.
"AI is going to change Australia," [said former co-CEO and co-founder Scott Farquhar]. "Every person should be using AI daily for as many things as they can. Like any new technology, it will feel awkward to start with, but every business person, every business leader, every government leader, and every bureaucrat should be using it." He also said that governments should be implementing AI more broadly. [...] Commenting on the termination, Farquhar said the mass termination was due to the customer service team no longer being needed in the same capacity, as larger clients required less complex support following a move to the cloud.
"AI is going to change Australia," [said former co-CEO and co-founder Scott Farquhar]. "Every person should be using AI daily for as many things as they can. Like any new technology, it will feel awkward to start with, but every business person, every business leader, every government leader, and every bureaucrat should be using it." He also said that governments should be implementing AI more broadly. [...] Commenting on the termination, Farquhar said the mass termination was due to the customer service team no longer being needed in the same capacity, as larger clients required less complex support following a move to the cloud.
Luigi (Score:1)
That's how you end up getting Luigi'd.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
but you need to put that into an jira ticket.
Re: Luigi (Score:2)
Was it an AI generated video? That might make it sting even more.
Lord Farquhar (Score:2)
HAS SPOKEN! USE AI DAILY OR YOU WILL BE A DINOSAUR.
I don't hold Australia as a leader of anything except creatures that want to kill you if you inadvertently stumble upon them.
Old School? (Score:3)
Using video seems old school. or is it just me that thinks he should just a have sent a txt.
kthxbye
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Re: (Score:2)
It disturbs me that I can totally see this catching on. The ease, efficiency, conflict avoidance... Why would upper management not?
Honestly (Score:5, Interesting)
There are certainly more or less callous ways to lay people off, but in the end, layoffs can't really not be miserable. I'd argue that a nice cushion while you find your next gig is worth a lot more than a tearful goodbye.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Honestly (Score:4, Insightful)
It has been a while since I ran across this rule of thumb, so it may be outdated and my memory may be foggy, but it was something like this:
For every $10K in salary, it takes 1 month of job hunting to find a suitable replacement job.
So, for $100K in salary, that's 10 months of job hunting.
By that standard, 6 months of pay for 25 years of service seems woefully unattractive.
Re: Honestly (Score:2)
10 months? Lol. I have sad news for you. It's going to get pretty bad in the job front by then. AI is going vertical. Get every penny you can save before then.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, as I said, it has been a while since I ran across that rule of thumb.
That said, my wife fairly recently found new jobs relatively quickly.
The one she has now pays $165K. It took only her some 4-5 months of serious hunting to land that job (she already had one at the time). That was about 18 months ago. She wanted to change jobs because the one she had was way too much stress for her, but wanted a pay boost if she could get it. Still, a 22% pay boost isn't bad.
The one she had before that paid $135K. I
Amazing that they were able to do this (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
I bet the hire contractors to replace them....you know, "it's a different budget"
I hate this timeline (Score:5, Funny)
(Commenting more on the "everyone should use AI for everything" bit...)
I fucking HATE this timeline. I want to be put in suspended animation until this AI bullshit hype has played itself out, and then woken up. Pretty please?
Re: (Score:1)
Presumably an AI would be responsible for triggering your reanimation at the appropriate time - or not
Re: (Score:3)
Vibe Resuscitation
Re: (Score:1)
> What the fuck is this? When I went to sleep I wasn't a fucking chihuahua?!?
AI: Thanks for pointing out my mistake. It's clear you are someone who has good attention to detail.
Barring some kind of miracle (Score:2)
But it's not going to create fully automated luxury gay space communism either. We're still going to have a bunch of people that have to do work.
So you going to have two classes of people the people who we need to do work and the people we don't need to do work.
I want you to try to imagine how that's going to turn out. In a society where if you don't work you don't eat w
Re: (Score:2)
Why can't these things be replaced? a robot bartender? short order cook? not beyond comprehension in the least. The Japanese are working directly on robot nurses.
AI robots may hold key to nursing Japan's ageing population [reuters.com]
These jobs will be hit also. Mom and pop may not be able top afford a robot bartender right away but their wealthier competition will. And eventually the price will become reasonable for them also.
Re: Barring some kind of miracle (Score:2)
Can't is a pretty big word. Like the other commenter said, can't replace until a Tesla Optimus robot is hired.
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I'll take carousel, you get to float! And you could renew!
Re: Barring some kind of miracle (Score:2)
Tens of millions? Lol, why would it stop there. 99% of jobs.
Re: I hate this timeline (Score:2)
With that kind of attitude, Sara Connor would have never defeated the Terminator.
Wake up Farquad (Score:2)
Should be using, why? (Score:2)
> former co-CEO and co-founder Scott Farquhar]. "Every person should be using AI daily for as many things as they can. Like any new technology, it will feel awkward to start with, but every business person, every business leader, every government leader, and every bureaucrat should be using it
"using AI daily".
WHY? I notice that article just absolutely does not specify the reason why.
Because somehow the hallucinations are going to make the work better? Or because somehow, even though we now know that givi
Re: (Score:2)
It's not the job of the article to say why. They are quoting, not proposing. Ask Scott.
Re: (Score:2)
WHY? I notice that article just absolutely does not specify the reason why.
So CEOs can save money and get richer.
But also to pick apart what he said:
> "Every person should be using AI daily for as many things as they can. Like any new technology, it will feel awkward to start with, but every business person, every business leader, every government leader, and every bureaucrat should be using it
OK let's just get this out of the way first: Christ alive, what a twat.
I'm an engineer, always been on that path
\o/ (Score:1)
I've always found Atlassian's diagrams explaining GIT concepts to be excellent - they could have saved bandwidth, time and increased clarity by having the termination communicated by diagram :-)
I've asked an AI to take a stab at it [google.com] but something seems to have been lost in translation although, it's not without its merits. Perhaps a good starting point for the next round of terminations?
A confluence of issues at play (Score:4, Informative)
Re: A confluence of issues at play (Score:3)
AI (Score:1)
If AI was that great, you wouldn't have to tell people to use it. Another delusional CEO L take.
Right. (Score:2)
Tell me you just invested.
Person who just invested in AI tells rest of world to become consumers, for no apparent reason.
Re: Right. (Score:2)
Re: Right. (Score:2)
By contrast (Score:2)