Startups Scoop Up Cast-Off Workers.

 

"Startups are recruiting a growing number of laid-off software developers, data scientists and engineers, luring them away from larger employers -- and bigger paychecks -- with a chance to build software capabilities from the ground up, tech recruiters and investors say.

Other startup perks include permanent remote- or hybrid-work models and equity stakes with more upside potential than those offered by mature companies' stock options.

Pandion Pro, a three-year-old e-commerce delivery startup, in recent weeks hired three workers who were laid off by Facebook parent Meta Platforms, said Scott Ruffin, Pandion founder and chief executive.

Of some 65 new hires in the past year, roughly 15% were laid-off workers from Meta, Tesla, Amazon.com and Google, among other large tech employers, Mr. Ruffin said. The Seattle-based company currently has more than 85 full-time workers, following its first hiring spree last year. Last summer, Pandion raised $40 million in a funding round.

Mr. Ruffin said that, as for many other startups, the size of paychecks isn't a deciding factor for most laid-off workers Pandion has interviewed recently. In wage negotiations, he said, "you hit some number and there's always somebody bigger with deeper pockets who can offer more."

Instead, Mr. Ruffin says, "We've been able to attract some pretty high-quality talent because what we're doing is different."

By one count, large tech companies last year laid off an estimated 165,000 workers, with an additional 191,000 fired so far this year, according to Layoffs.fyi.

Ruth Ebeling, a managing director and partner at management consulting company Boston Consulting Group, estimated that at least 40% of tech workers who have found new jobs after being laid off within the past nine months are now working at startups or other small tech employers." [1]

1. Startups Scoop Up Cast-Off Workers. Loten, Angus. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 10 May 2023: B.4.