When “Culture” Kills - OnlyCFO's Newsletter

We should all know by now that times are tougher in 2023 for tech companies. But most companies still haven’t really adjusted expectations of employees. Many people conflate a good culture with being excessively employee friendly and having top Glassdoor reviews. During the ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) era employees only had to spend a small fraction of their time doing actual work to somewhat justify their inflated salaries/titles because the free money made everything easy. The below chart shows where software employees spend their time (based on my deep research). Companies coddled their employees and gave them everything they wanted to feel special. We created cultures where making employees feel good was more important than adding actual value to the business. The magical “10x employee” is usually just someone who can focus on their actual job and provide business value. Companies can make a lot of their employees 10x+ more valuable by resetting expectations and changing the c

We should all know by now that times are tougher in 2023 for tech companies. But most companies still haven’t really adjusted expectations of employees. Many people conflate a good culture with being excessively employee friendly and having top Glassdoor reviews. During the ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) era employees only had to spend a small fraction of their time doing actual work to somewhat justify their inflated salaries/titles because the free money made everything easy. The below chart shows where software employees spend their time (based on my deep research). Companies coddled thei