LinkedIn Layoff Drama: Sahil vs Darin at Repvue

Alright folks another LinkedIn debate coming your way.


Chili Piper recently had their annual trip to Morocco, and soon after they did a layoff.


This guy, Darin, made a post about it saying that companies are out there doing expensive trips instead of keeping that money for employees.


Then Sahil made a post calling him out.


(Posts are attached)


I usually side with Sahil on his posts, but on this one, I get what Darin was saying. So I'll say I'm neutral. Just hope Chili Piper gave a nice severance to their employees.

Which side are you on?

Attached poll
*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

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🤓 Sales Tech
👨‍💻 LinkedIn
42
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
23
Sales Rep
I get both sides. If I was a rep who got flown to Morocco for a company trip to only be laid off. I would be pissed after seeing how expensive the trip was.

also I assume lots of reps didn’t want to travel to Morocco but didn’t want to feel the pressure of not going on a company trip.

I don’t really know anything outside of these 3 posts so it’s hard to have an opinion on it
jefe
Arsonist
7
🍁
I agree with all of this.

I'd be pretty pissed off, and the whole discomfort many still have with travelling combined with the pressure to go adds another dimension.
Nairobi
Politicker
5
AE
I would love to hear the perspective of someone that went on that trip and got laid off. Like did they get completely blinded by this layoff with the trip?

If that happened, we'll never know because Chili Piper has a lot of influential people supporting them so it would be hard for them to speak up.
youngsmoky
Celebrated Contributor
6
Senior Account Executive
I read the Chili Piper response. They pay for the trips a year in advance.

So yeah I'd be pissed if that happened to me. But at least I got a trip to Morocco before I had to start looking for work! I'd be way more pissed if they canceled my free trip before they fired me for "PR" reasons.
SDM
Politicker
2
Sales development manager
I'm with you
Nairobi
Politicker
1
AE
I don't think they should have canceled, but at least let people know so then they decide if they want to go or not. I would have gone just because I love free stuff and traveling haha
SDM
Politicker
0
Sales development manager
😂
Nairobi
Politicker
3
AE
Yeah same I’d be pissed. I think Chili Piper should have made an announcement prior to the trip. Like let them know what’s up and then I can choose to come or not
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
4
Sales Rep
The big thing is Chili Piper is doing a lot to help them get placed somewhere else.

I saw a Hire a Piper post and resources for former employees
Nairobi
Politicker
5
AE
Tbh I think that’s the least they could do
saaskicker
Celebrated Contributor
2
Enterprise AE
agree, this is table stakes and a check the box initiative. i was at a company one time who did a massive layoff and they brought in a "resume expert" to speak to everyone who had been laid off, it was an MBA Student who had no work experience.
Maximas
Tycoon
3
Senior Sales Executive
Totally Agree!!
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
2
Bravado's Resident Asshole
I’m with you
braintank
Politicker
15
Enterprise Account Executive
Two douches douching.

Why didn't @sahilhave the cajones to tag Darin?
sahil
Notable Contributor
11
Deepak Chopra of Sales
I did tag him. He blocked me so it removes the tag.
braintank
Politicker
7
Enterprise Account Executive
That's SDE from Darin, so point @sahil. You think he was trying to scoop your naughty list idea?
sahil
Notable Contributor
4
Deepak Chopra of Sales
Dunno. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
LordOfWar
Tycoon
11
Blow it up
Here I am just wanting DMs for desktop, and I get LI drama.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Priorities! All upside down.
Pachacuti
Politicker
8
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
I’m neutral. The amount spent wouldn’t have saved them from layoffs but the optics are VERY bad.

I don’t think they should have been doing trips like that in the first place personally. The SaaS bubble is popping.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
7
🦊
Terribly bad optics. You can't tell me they didn't have an idea they were gonna do this.
Nairobi
Politicker
1
AE
100%, they knew, they always know
youngsmoky
Celebrated Contributor
1
Senior Account Executive
They paid for the trip a year in advance. Looks shady but personally I'd be happy I got the trip before they shafted me.

Hopefully they make good on their promise and actually get everyone hired with new gigs.
ADudeBeingAGuy
Politicker
6
Account Executive
LinkedIn is not real life and no one should take Sahil seriously part 3456673
coletrain
Politicker
6
Account Executive
IDGAF generally and follow both. What I will say is subposting isn’t the best and I wish he had said it. However, deleting those calling Darin out is worse.

In short, both have points, both can do better. Let’s all be thankful for the sales community we have here
TennisandSales
Politicker
5
Head Of Sales
im team Sahil on this. i was fine with Darins comments....until he linked RepVue. shitty optics there for sure.
buckeyenation
Acclaimed Answer
1
AE
wanna hit? I'm free saturday.
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
noon work?
BlueJays2591
Politicker
5
Federal Business Dev Director
I dont mind people calling out stupidity when they see it, no matter if the person that did it is a "nice guy". But if you're going to do it, prepare to answer backlash and not delete it. I don't think chili piper should have done it. And I think too many firms grew too quickly and now they're forced to lay people off when their sales slow ever so slightly. So not on anyone's side. Call people out and be prepared to answer for it
buckeyenation
Acclaimed Answer
0
AE
they aren't ever gonna win a series.
Angusmacg
Valued Contributor
4
Territory Account Mgr.
I'm neutral on this like most of us it seems. Who gives a flying F*** about Optics? Society is too much into optics that it has driven us down a horrible path where optics matter more than actually taking care of business. If a business wants to treat its employees to a "Last Hurrah" before a layoff then let them. What would the employee get if the company gave that money to the employees? Maybe a couple of hundred bucks. It's like being part of a class action lawsuit and getting an $0.85 payout.
WhoDey
Opinionated
4
VP of Sales
The only thing Darin said that I agree with is that it's not a "good look". However, incentive trips like that are planned 1+ years in advance, substantial deposits are made, and most of the cost is spent well before the trip takes place. Cancelling the trip might have been better optics, but wouldn't have saved the jobs that needed to get cut. It was a no-win situation and putting Chili Piper on blast was pretty shitty.
alonzoharris
Politicker
3
Partner Manager
Neutral because who cares
Nairobi
Politicker
1
AE
Usually I don’t care about this kind of drama but I do think this one is an interesting one
youngsmoky
Celebrated Contributor
1
Senior Account Executive
With Sahil logically but overall, yeah not a fight worth getting worked up over.
buckeyenation
Acclaimed Answer
3
AE
do any of you realize that this is the fucking game we all play in? There is no fairness or forewarning. Kill or be killed dawgs.
FoodForSales
Politicker
2
AE
how could their leadership keep a straight face knowing this was coming down the line?!
Nairobi
Politicker
1
AE
The CEO made a post about it recently, didn't read it all because tbh don't care too much. But from what I read, they still had hopes that they wouldn't do the layoffs during the trip which is obviously a lie
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
2
Rolling 20's all day
I feel like statistically there must be someone from Chili Piper who is in here.
You are anonymous so please share your perspective!
Nairobi
Politicker
2
AE
This!! Should I edit my post and put "P.S. If you work at Chili Piper, we'd love to hear your perspective"?
CRAG112
Valued Contributor
2
Account Executive
Sahil appears to be doing exactly what he accused others of doing. No one attacked anyone except Sahil.

Did nothing but try and protect the C suite, trying to swing dicks around and puff up chests. GTFOH. Always the same bullshit. Meanwhile, what happened to the Chili Piper CEO? Is he about to post a selfie of him with a teardrop. Boohoo.

I’m right here on Bravado calling out Chili Piper. We all know they knew what was going on. There was zero surprise. If they wanted to treat people well before the decision was final, that’s cool. But it also comes across as being shitty. Meanwhile if anyone checked out their job board they would see The company hiring for roles they fired. Again. GTFOH

REPVUE does not need to do shit.
Dude was promoting the brand. That’s his job. REPVUE has always tried to promote transparency. Again, that’s what they did.
Sahil was out there protecting execs and promoting his brand. He didn’t need to join the convo with a ten page email.
SaasSlingin
Politicker
1
Sr AE
Idgaf but am i the only one who’d happily go on intl company trip and the collect severance. Sounds like squeezing out what you can out of your employer
Blue_Turtle
Opinionated
1
sdr
I’m more wondering why none of these companies saw the surge in covid related demand and thought it was temporary (which it was), and budgeted accordingly. I think people assume every executive is purely in their position on merit and so much more knowledgeable than everyone else, but if that were true they’d never fuck up.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
merp
countingmyinterest
Politicker
1
Account Executive
lmfao this happened to me - company raised solid 9 figure round from prominent VC. flew everyone out to EU and then proceeded to layoff everyone.

it was fun - but i assume they had made the decision to lay off everyone way before the trip even started.
SaaSyBee
Politicker
1
Founder
Darin has a point that it's terrible optics for Chili Piper and shows mismanagement of their money because either:

A) they knew they'd need to lay people off beforehand and took the trip anyway

or

B) they planned the trip before they knew they'd need to lay people off (which is more forgivable but shows a cockiness that the overall economic climate wouldn't impact them)

Sahil has a point that posting without tagging Chili Piper and then linking to RepVue showed poor judgment. It was a self-serving move.

However, "kicking someone when they are down" is a bit of a stretch. Sure, it would suck to have to lay people off, but the people who are "down" aren't the leaders of the company; they're the people getting laid off.

There's a big difference between holding someone accountable for their actions and kicking them when they're down.
sleepingjaguar
Opinionated
1
CSM, Emerging Markets
I agree on the comment about Ryan Walsh. His content always seems above board
VFG
Good Citizen
1
SDR
I’m firmly on Sahil’s side. Employees are generally close to 80% of a company’s total expenses.

Cutting a yearly trip to Morocco to preserve the salaries and benefits of hundreds of employees doesn’t make sense at all. The math doesn’t math. This was a sensationalist comment by Darren that makes no sense if you think about it for even a few seconds.
SalesJesus29
Tycoon
1
Regional Sales Director
I think both are wrong...

We need honesty and transparent communication from company leaders. FULL STOP.At the end of the day I think there needs to be more transparency in the industry. Long story short we need more of it from Leaders in this space. It is obviously leaving people feel undervalued.
Jrandall
Executive
1
Manager-Corporate Training and Learning Advisor
Stop wasting money on vanity trips. So much of tech is "struggling" right now because business fundamentals have been forgotten. A proper company retreat that is focused on building business value and building processes is one thing. A sponsored vacation is a vanity play. If you aren't earning profit, stop wasting money. So much of the build it and they will come mentality of SaaS is a bit of a house of cards for so many companies. Product led innovative companies that are focused on the solving real problems built on solid business fundamentals will survive, the rest will perish or be shadows of there former selves,albeit a bit wiser.
Ironcity81
1
Director
If you deserved the trip, great go. Then pay the taxes because the company probably added to total earnings. But companies are not human. They are in the business to earn revenue and make a profit (unless you are Uber and Amazon). Layoffs happen. The real question is, what should have the executives done to avoid layoffs minus the budgeted award trip?
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