Please know that this post does not represent the views of all of us at this office. While I appreciate the effort to place us as a team, I feel this effort in particular does not represent the professional nature in which we conduct ourselves, and was posted without the permission of all of us on the team.
I really, really want to second what eldavido said.
* This is not unprofessional
* It's fair if you'd prefer to opt out
* I don't believe this reflects poorly on OP at all.
Your employer is closing an office. Your team supposedly has a positive dynamic, which has value, value your employer is passing on. Why would it be unprofessional or unethical to advertise this when said employer is cutting the team loose?
I do not mean this to call out chattamatt; this comment is for those who come next who think about doing the same thing: no one is looking out for your best interests besides you. There is nothing wrong with putting an offer such as this out (except for those who may not want to participate, OP should've checked with his team for those who might have not wanted to be included)
EDIT: @chattamatt (HN commenting throttle has kicked in, I can't reply to your comment below)
I'm very sorry your team has to go through this. I hope this thread provides the necessary resources for everyone to make a successful leap to a new employment opportunity, regardless if its the entire team or individuals on their own. I can also appreciate how you feel about being represented without your consent, and my comment notes that isn't acceptable.
I completely agree that there's nothing wrong with shopping the team, and that it's not unprofessional. However, answering questions and posting this without the consent of the headcount represented, isn't great either.
There are terms to our severance packages... While this post in itself doesn't violate any of those terms, it's a difficult time, and many of us, including myself, are still gathering our thoughts and planning next steps. I'm simply sensitive about having anyone represent us without first having our permission.
Thank you for your feedback... My original comment should have said "this post..." instead of "this effort..." to make specifically what I was addressing more clear.
This behavior (OP) doesn't come off as unprofessional at all. You have nothing to worry about.
I get that you might feel upset if this was posted without your consent, but tech is becoming hollywood and there are plenty of people who'd like to hire a proven team.
I'm really interested in the belief system that led you to post this message. Details?
It's a sensitive time... I wanted to post that response so it was understood that wilwade doesn't speak on our behalf entirely. He may not say anything negative, nor answer any questions poorly; however, it's simply worth noting that he posted this on his own.
Don't do something embarrassing if you want to be saved embarrassment. If you're closing a branch office, but providing the option for people to move to SF, that's important information future candidates should know about how your business operates.
Reading between the lines here, I suspect there might be language in a buyout/severance agreement some of the employees are party to that might have sensitive terms, like anti-disparagement or other stuff, and they don't want to lose it.
More broadly, it pays to know your rights as an employee.
toomuchtodo and I both spend too much time on HN and I've gotten to know him a bit from his posts; I ascertain he's probably pretty far left of me, politically. I'm more of a stereotypical tech guy, left/center-moderate, but even I agree, employees have rights, and it pays to know yours. Your employer cannot fire you for bargaining collectively. Period. IANAL, but my understanding is that the FLSA specifically protects what you're doing now, and you might even be able to file a wrongful termination suit if they act on it. It also means the language in whatever agreement you have might not be enforceable.
I grew up in Chicago and know union excesses well. But whatever your ideology, it pays to know a bit about the law, and what you can and can't do.
Honestly, this comment seemed more unprofessional to me than the original. Just leave it at "This post does not represent the views of the entire team".
Some employers would view this as unprofessional. Anywhere you would enjoy working views this positively.
1) The only reason it could come across as unprofessional is because it goes against the typical power dynamic where the company holds all the cards and the employees get what they can. Screw that.
2) It has been shown over and over that functioning teams are greater than the sum of their parts. If this is indeed a well functioning team then an employer who understands the dynamics of things would absolutely rather hire as a group and pay a premium for it. Typically in this case you would still interview each team member individually, but the ones that got through your normal process would be regrouped after that. You could pay a bonus based on how many of the original team get hired.
3) It's a rare opportunity to actually grab a whole team like this. For a company that is trying to ramp up a project quickly this is a great find.
I find it kind of presumptuous when people on HN purport to know what kinds of places someone "wouldn't want to work at anyway". There's certainly a grain of truth to what you're saying, but often places that have otherwise decent work environments also have a particular flaw that doesn't rule them out as a good place to work.
Being able to truly take advantage of the job market requires that workers be:
1. Willing to relocate, the further you're willing to go the wider a net you can cast and the more leverage you have in negotiations.
2. Willing to hold out on many offers, waiting for the one you feel you deserve, even if it takes time to find it. This also gives you a lot of leverage at the negotiation table, and can't really be faked: you actually have to be fine with walking away.
Some developers want to stay near their family and existing social network. Some developers have big bills or debt and can't afford to wait for better offers. Some people live in cities where the tech community is super .NET based, or where salaries are way lower than the ones they hear about on HN, or where pretty much all the shops require a suit and tie and don't let you work from home. And some people just want to live a comfortable life focused around things other than work. And that's totally fine.
All of this isn't to say you shouldn't be on the lookout for better jobs and workplaces. If you're young, rootless and don't have much debt, you should totally drill the market for all it's worth, and there may be many people like that. And if you're truly miserable at your job, totally look for a new one, and consider whether you can accept temporary uncertainty in return for a better quality of life. However, these are complicated life decisions, and it feels kind of frivolous to unilaterally decide them based on one or a few pieces of criteria.
(Sorry for being harsh, this rant has been building steam for a while)
