yeah, the layoffs happened a day or so before Thanksgiving. Bad timing, but there's never good timing for things like this. Been waiting to see if they addressed it. I'm glad they did, and I honestly feel for them pretty hard - not just the folks that lost their jobs, but the guilt of the ones who survived and the shareholders and key players who had to make the decision. It's brutal and it sucks hard on both sides.
@@sindex "but the guilt of the ones who survived and the shareholders and key players who had to make the decision" They'll be fine with their jobs (and in the case of Bobby, promotion) as well as their 1/3 profit share that is split amongst shareholders.
@@MrGoalie2012 if they're your friends and part of a tight-knit community, yeah you would. it's obviously not the same grief as losing your job but it's the kind of grief where a gulf gets thrust between families and friendships - that stuff hurts in different ways, it's not just about money
It isn't personal though. The people who lost their jobs aren't (at least based on this video) didn't lose their jobs because they didn't like them. It's simply a business decision and you cannot run a business and not make decisions that will negatively affect some individuals.
@@godlessveteran2431 That's immature. Do you have your own business? What hardships have you experienced that were exceedingly burdensome in that business? Is/was it a business of luxury? What are the ins and outs of luxury? And if any business of yours exists, for how long? How many employees? Make whatever decision you'd like - but that mindset is immature without the full picture. All we have our their videos, not the real-time experience of dealing with anything in them.
He shouldn't do in a group but he should do it as a leader not HR. But he should have listened to his HR guy in this case. His HR guy is good (most HR aren't) but its a leadership thing not HR problem. Using HR for things like that are a problem normally
@@SigfridSWE No, HR needs to be in there as there's paperwork and stuff to sign and handle. I've been laid off, HR was there. Also gives a witness if something goes south.
Having been through multiple layoffs (I'm in IT), it is MUCH better to be laid off as a group because you can then look around and plan which bar/restaurant to go to afterwards to talk about what a shitty day you are having. Briana has this one right.
@@joltman81 my favorite part is how people on here are speaking so definitively, with so much certainly, and contradicting each other. There is no "best way." There are only less bad ways. And it will be different from company to company depending on size and culture. Nothing any of you people are saying matters anyway because this has already taken place.
As someone from the shipping team who was laid off from Wyrmwood. I really wish that Troy was listened to and there was a human element involved because it sucks to be laid off, but to lose your means of support for your family right before Thanksgiving and Christmas is not only embarrassing, but utterly demoralizing and leaves a sour taste in your mouth. It would've been lessened if we weren't treated like dirt and thrown out the door. Layoffs are a necessary thing, I get it, but there is a right and a wrong way to handle it and the way it was dealt with last Tuesday was despicable. It also didn't help that the day prior we had learned of the unfortunate passing of one of our fellow coworkers so it was especially in poor taste.
That's a shitty way to go into the holidays. I hope you and your family are alright. I'm sorry for the loss of your coworker as well. I hadn't heard that one yet. Totally sucks.
Layoffs happen but to hear him say that loyalty counts and we have to be humans and all of that stuff and then proceed to lay off nearly half your workers right before the holidays is anything but humane and loyal.
Have you ever seen a room full of little monsters, playing a game trying to pretend they are human? You now have... ;) Note: Also the math doesn't add up. If weekly sales are $300k, that's $15.6 million after 52 weeks (a year), and not $30+ million. And the KS only raised ~$2 million in 2024 on the KS site, probably a few million more in the pledge manager... Either those weekly sales from the website have gone down instead of the ~20% increase or half their sales come from KS and why the heck would you stop doing those if they bring in half you revenue? If there's $600k production being done per week, that's $31.2 million of product. That's what they've been making the last three years. Either something is being badly communicated or something is off...
@@Cergorach bare in mind KSs cut but yes something is very off and it's typical capitalism in the modern age. Covid was a blip not a sign that growth would be ever lasting. I think anyone with an ounce of common sense could see that but sadly corporations all too often just see $$$ and chase rainbows for perpetual, every increasing revenue and profits. Wyrmwood's other brain cell should have noticed a global economic downturn. During such times really expensive purchases like heirloom gaming accessories are no longer on the list of priorities for most people. This would obviously mean drop off. Add to that basically not servicing Europe... well like I say, it doesn't take a genius to work it out.
Carrying twice the amount of staff you need for another two months increases the risk of having to make more cuts later. It would suck just as much for individuals to lose their jobs after Christmas as it would just before.
@@dealbreakerc If they found themselves in an 'emergency' layoff situation that couldn't be managed for two more months then catastrophic mistakes were made a year ago. And if you think getting laid of just before Christmas is just as bad as being laid off after Christmas, I think you're either single with no kids or you've never been laid off just before Christmas.
Sorry this is happening. A few things: > I don't think shareholders should be getting a third right after doing layoffs. That should be a target down the road. > You should also be taking a pay cut at the top level to show that you're willing to feel the pain as well. This would be a gesture of good-will that you've minimized lay-offs to the extent that you can. As you said, you failed to get website sales up enough. Ultimately there should be a price for that failure. Feels like CEOs always get bonuses for success, and no consequences beyond lack of bonus for failure. That's not the experience of the average worker. For most of us, failure means material pain. > What happened with Christmas/Black Friday? Your Christmas promo seems very lackluster compared to last year. If sales are down, you should be going for every angle and gimmick. I feel like even watching Wyrmlife I haven't seen anything very enticing this year. Nothing of interest for Halloween either. Again, I think there are a lot of failures at the top going on here. > Layoffs before Christmas are always a bad call if you want good will and to avoid bad PR. Hope there's severance at least.
Yeah, sadly the amount of advertisement I've seen this year has been 1/100th of what I've seen before, is it only that they are targeting other platforms than YT?
wasn't the 1/3 thing a goal they want to reach? Nobody said they were doing this now. Also that 1/3 is likely their pay and maybe that already is a cut. We do not know what it was before. Also if they made this video public now, all of this has likely happened already quite some time ago. That is not to say, that they did not mess up in many ways (like dough canceling the hiring of a CMO, pivoting towards mass production to begin with rather than focusing on the quality they were known for, etc. but I feel like we lack a lot of information to make such sweeping statements)
I’ve been reading a lot recently that a lot of people would prefer to be fired before doing Christmas shopping as opposed to spending like you have a job and then suddenly not.
Given Doug's attitude of "nobody fucking messed up" I think Doug should be offering personal letters of recommendation and assistance with finding new jobs.
The people leading the company into aggressive over expansion, that means half the workforce is getting cut fucked up. That's literally the C Suites jobs. To understand the market, and do the dance. They fucked up.
@@ThePesmerga2007 THIS. And if they don't understand the market or their aspect of their job: THEY ASK SOMEONE. Not just pretend they know what they're talking about, draw on a piece of paper and laughingly call it "marketing." So damn insulting to their workforce.
Well as the Head of Marketing Doug did fuck up he didnt drive enough sales its all on him. Crypto Doug will be fine. The closure of Pennsylvania will happen. The share holders should vote to hire a outsIde CEO.
50% is almost a death knell for the rest of the company that doesn't get laid off. Morale is gonna be hit so massively that quality of production is going to suffer. Between survivor's guilt and other employee's bitterness towards the upper management of a company going through this, I guarantee that some of the best employees you do keep will be looking to leave anyway.
This would be true of any company doing a 50% labor reduction. This is doubly true of a company that records the layoff planning meeting and puts it on YT.
As someone who has been laid off multiple times, the one on one isn't necessarily the problem. It's the knowing that layoffs are coming and holding your breath to see if you're one of them. And then your manager comes into the room of 30 individuals and says "Josh, can I speak with you in my office?". That "walk of shame" to their office is the worst part because you know what it's about, but you're holding onto hope that you get in there and they say "so, you're not one of the layoffs...". But they never say that.... :(
As someone whose been fired (and I suspect it was actually a redundancy in disguise) I've spent years reliving it in my head looking for meaning. I'd have much rathered the transparency shown in this video, and if it is a group setting, in a group. But 50% is FUCKING rough.
Yeah, personally I would try to set it up so that managers meet with each of their direct reports to avoid that. It also gives an opportunity to answer questions from those who will remain. You'll still have the inevitable "Were you cut?" questions. Of course, in some businesses, there is fear that if you don't escort laid off employees they may sabotage something on their way out, though I think that's more of an issue if you A) don't treat your employees well in the first place, and B) don't deliver the news well.
100% this. I was made redundant this year and I had it hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles for a *month*. Honestly, by that point, finally getting confirmation I wasn't going to have a job anymore was actually a relief. At least then I had concrete information I could begin to work with and plan ahead for. If I could implore Doug to do one thing, it's ensure that the process is as fast as it legally can be. Your employees don't deserve the stress of a drawn-out process.
If I had to go through it, and they were going to do group announcements, I'd have everyone go to two different rooms after announcing that there will be layoffs. And then tell the group that's going they are and the one that's not they aren't. So that from announcing what's happening to find out is only a few minutes, so that it isn't hanging there for too long. But that's still a very impersonal way to handle things. And lacks the compassion they voiced wanting to keep.
First, you hired an HR person to do HR stuff. Let Troy do his job. Second, shareholders don't need a third. Some level of profitability, but a third is too much. Third, management should take a pay cut to offset some of the layoffs. It is management's job to keep the company profitable (up to a point as the market does influence success) so any failures should be shouldered more by them than the workers. Fourth, make products that are more affordable. Catering to a niche group of gamers that are better off than others means you have a limited customer base. Not saying you have to make cheap tables, but cheaper appeals to more people thus growing your customer base. Lastly, do layoffs IN PERSON. Give the employee a chance to vent. Most people will understand, especially if management has taken the pay cuts to show support.
Doug has made it clear his comfort comes first everytime at this point. He doesn't want to disrupt his friend group, cut his own pay, or even do the stand up thing and give people 1 on 1 meetings for layoffs.
The managements failure of execution was explicated noted in the video. It's nobody's fault was audience specific, with the audience being the employees and the venue being that initial announcement meeting.
SOMEONE decided to gear up to sell $250 million dollars of gaming tables as quickly as possible. SOMEONE made that decision and effectuated it, knowing that they are in a limited market (expensive, custom board gaming tables). SOMEONE is “at fault” for all that is about to happen, and I believe it’s rather obvious who that is. How is lack of “sustainability” of this business model any kind of surprise????
Part of the issue in any ramp up with a lag in deliveries is….liabilities…and what is more dangerous is holding the customers money. Often, it can result in confusing how healthy you are. Maybe they could have said…new employee we hope to keep u long term but at moment we can guarantee u a year because we have a fulfillment issue….like Amazon at Christmas time, but for a year.
@@Cb13379 Problem is most people are perfectly happy with a gaming desk that costs them a few hundred bucks at most. And with the way my pets wreck stuff, I'm not laying down that kind of money for a pet bed for them either.
@@Cb13379the lack of transparency and preparation for failure is why people dislike and distrust companies. For the company and the owners that can't really be fired, hoping for and building for success makes perfect sense, but for the workers it is far more about predicability and planning. WW has a known organic sales number and a Kickstarter sales backlog. The company should have always been structured around that reality and not around a mythical conversion of Kickstarter numbers to annual sales. It is a good thing to be added to the A team from a term position on the B team. It is devastating to be cut from the A team.
The guy saying "respect the dignity of the person" is spot on, imo. There's no good way to fire people right before the two biggest holidays in the United States. But there's definitely a worse way to do it, and it's treating people like a number.
Having been fired in November and knowing on how hard it is to job hunt during the holiday season, I would have liked to have been kept on until the end of the year. Or at least have been paid through the end of the year
@@jonahw6516 Paid through EOY would have been a decent move for sure. WM would still have reduced spending by not overproducing in December, and it would have had PR benefits internally and externally that would be worth the expenditure IMO.
I did hear that they ended giving those affected at least a severance, which in combination with Massachusetts Unemployment will likely be a good chunk to keep those people with food on the table with the ability to job search. Don't get me wrong severance is basically the bare minimum companies should do, but a lot don't even do that.
Oh, and Troy is right. You can do a big meeting too if you want, but tell those affected first. Few people are really going to believe it isn't, to some degree, about them and their performance... because at least partially it is.
I mean they literally said a few sentences prior to send around an excel file in which team leads are supposed to rate the performance of everyone… other factors as well, but it is essentially based on a person by person evalutation it seems…
They can say as much as they want it isn't personal, I guarantee that the people laid off will feel it's pretty DAMN personal. I've been there. It was personal.
"nobody messed up" says the guy who has been messing up for the past few years. For instance, not listening to his HR guy. Didn't they do layoffs a couple of years ago and they did them all individually? The shareholders need to replace this clown.
I mean, the first line was addressed at the employees that have to be laid off and that it was not their fault. At least that is how I understood it. Stating that they overstaffed the company sounds like they see their mistake. I also assume that if they have a 300k deficit and a 180k workforce, the money they paid the people that are going to be laid off won't be the only things they cut. The 1/3 Shareholder thing sounded like they did not cut their own pay, but we do not know what it was before. We are not seeing the full picture here, only what they showed, which was mainly an explanation on why they are doing it, not what else they are going to cut.
Having been laid off personally and in a group. The group option sucks. Individually you can actually see the person doing it, is doing it because it is the hard choice and it isn't personal.
Having been both laid off in group and in personal meeting. I prefer the group. Though in the group, I knew I was getting laid off well in advance and I was well prepared. The company lost the contract that my division was supporting services for. The other time I was totally blindsided by email saying HR wanted to me with me at the end of the day for a personal meeting. I think I was just more angry at the blindside method.
@@TheBaldr That's the problem, it's not a one size fits all thing. Some people will like the group, others will want the individual touch. Likely the best middle ground would be to do it in small groups, department by department. So there can be a more personal group dynamic. But yeah, blindsiding is just not the way to do it. But at least you still got it in person, they could have just had HR email you the notice instead. Lots of big faceless corporations like that method. I have even heard some places don't even really tell people, just one day their key card to get in stops working and there's an announcement poster on the front door. Group or one on one, direct human interaction is the way to do it.
@@TheBaldr if you knew well in advance it could be easier in a group. When the group one happened to me, we walked in on a Monday morning and they gathered the teams to be let go just before the end of the day to do it
Ive been laid off both ways. Group option was 'better' and brianna sums it up perfectly, you see others around and it isnt you alone. When you sitting at your desk seeing others go one by one, you sitting there anxious if it going to be you or not. Group its like getting a bandaid pulled off quickly. WHen it was a goup they said if anyone has questions we are here and you can talk to your manager one on one. In a 1-1 it isnt like your going to convince your manager or HR person not to let you go.
Not the most important point of this: but it makes zero sense to have had four meh kickstarters this year, and not hire an actual marketing person. Bobby and team obviously can make high quality creative videos, but they aren't reaching new audiences and aren't translating into sales.
The current kickstarter is at about a million dollars right now, since it's only counting $250 deposits for each backer that will turn into minimum $3,000 each. I wouldn't call that 'meh'.
@@stpatty3310 MGT 3.0 = $1 million, Diceapalooza = $564K, MGT Europe = $321K, MGT Xmas = $70K. There is a clear declining trajectory there, and compared to MGT 2.0 which had twice as many backers as MGT 3.0, I stand by my statement that the current team sucks at reaching new audiences and translating marketing into actual sales.
@@stpatty3310 It's pretty meh when you consider that there are other avenues of making sales. Kickstarter isn't just a crutch anymore. It's becoming an anchor.
@@stpatty3310 maybe they should stop using kickstarter full stop. since a lot of people just flat out will refuse to use it because theres no guarantee with it. the company can just take the money and make nothing. They should just be selling products. They don't need to "kickstart" anything, they are already a furniture production company. Companies who keep using kickstarter are also more looked down on now for this reason, it puts the risk on the people paying money up front, and its a really crappy way to do business. They would get more sales if they actually just sold things.
That would involve listening to anyone at all who wasn't their core guys. They prove over and over again that they're unwilling to do that. They're turning Kickstarter into a sort of Ponzi scheme where they can't survive until the next Kickstarter funds. Then they have to hit a certain threshold on each KS to make it even worth investing in the product, machinery, and staff to successfully deliver and they're not there. It's unsustainable and has proven to be so for the last couple years. And then they're putting their energy into mediocre dice as a get rich quick scheme? It's ridiculous.
The more I watch Wyrmwood in the last year or so, the more I realize their success is despite their ownership and management, not because of it. Listening to Doug complain about how awkward it would be to sit one on one with people he's laying off before the holidays is honestly gross. I used to look at their company as exactly the kind of workplace I would want to work in, that couldn't be further from the truth here though.
their success was latching on to Critical Role at the start and riding it for 6/7 years. they are not craftsmen, they are not builders, they are designers. i knew the company was in over their heads when they were having trouble with the grain raising on the maple MGT, once i figured out they didn't know that you had to finish the wood, sand it back down to smooth then finish it again i realized they didn't know what they were doing.
I think the Dougie show is over. Been a Wyrmling for years now, so I saw the first huge layoff and Doug moving out of the CEO position. Now it happens again. I'm a SWE, let go from my company at the end of October after pitching new software to my CEO. 2 weeks later, my company downsized. I sympathize and empathize more with the workers. Of all times of the year why Thanksgiving/Christmas... Like why not March, no one gives a shit about March. Doug - you're showing how out of touch you are. You're Chief of Marketing, where's your accountability in all of this
Noooo you always lay someone off one on one. It shows respect for them as an individual. You do it massively and it seems like you don't give a shit about any of them and they're disposable and you never cared about them.
Ed you will be successful no matter what you decide to do! You have some awesome capabilities and character to boot. I’d watch a show of just you doing you for sure 🤙🏻
Ed. Watched you on wyrmwood which then got me on your channel. Wish I had your skills. Hope you are sticking around. Hopefully something happens and they keep growing and can hire everyone back. Maybe more international growth or maybe a different brand of lower end products to keep money rolling in. Either way I know you all will do everything you can.
Troy is correct. It’s more respectful to an employee to have a direct conversation with them in which they are allowed to voice their opinions and more important allow a company to personally thank them and answer any questions that they have.
Remember that time they interviewed for an actual CMO, then Doug decided he could do it himself despite his lack of experience? Pepperidge farm remembers
And did Doug learn from his mistakes this time? Nope. Kick the can down the corporate ladder and let Bobby, someone who has no credentials and was initially hired as a woodworker, take the role. Surely nothing can get worse.
@@TakeACloserLook96 I mean they're not getting rid of Bobby. And hiring a high paying gig like CMO while laying off so many employees is not good for morale.
Yes, and it was DEFINITELY WAYYYYY longer than 1 Quarter ago. Doug needs to take responsibility here for ignoring marketing for more than a YEAR and a half. THEY KNEW this was a problem that needed addressing. They had the website sales showing tepid demand especially compared to KS. It had nothing to do with availability and everything to do with reach. It is such a basic mistake to make that someone with an undergrad degree in marketing could've spotted it. But the CEO's disdain for training has really hurt the company. Hopefully he can be humble enough to listen to the people who actually know what their talking about (Troy) and hire the correct people. They have a great product with a great team and a great functioning (well they did anyways) manufacturing apparatus. They just have to feed the hopper! I would love to see what their marketing/sales funnel conversion metrics look like!
Maybe try voluntary layoffs before mandatory layoffs. I worked in a factory that when orders dropped they went around and asked if anyone wanted to take a voluntary layoff before just laying people off.
The issue with that is you can end up losing the workers you would rather have kept and keep the workers you would have rather not. So while it is the method that makes people feel the best about the situation. If your aim is to retain your skilled workers first and foremost, then it can cause issues with doing that.
@@Targe0 a lot of those skilled workers are going to look at this situation, and then look for opportunities elsewhere. This isn't Wyrmwood's first layoff, not their first during the holidays. This is a company that doesn't learn lessons. And that means one person is at fault. And that person's name rhymes with Mug Bostello.
Yeah, they're making a niche product for a niche hobby. Not every gamer out there can lay down the kind of money for their products..they've already made their market smaller just based on price alone. Not saying the quality doesn't demand the premium price, it does. But you're not selling to every family out there. You're selling to a small segment of the population in the grand scheme of things. Not sure why they didn't grasp that. Probably cause they're barely gamers themselves.
Yeah, when Doug was saying "we have millions of views on Instagram! That means we have millions of people who want this table!" I realized - Oh my god Doug has no clue how marketing / online video works. This company is screwed. And now here we get to watch the 4th layoff video on this channel. And yes, it is the 4th, they just unlisted the other ones.
When my company delivers news about a few people being laid off there's a big meeting and they say "the people involved have already been notified prior to this meeting" - that makes me (who's not being laid off) feel it was handled fairly And no one panics DURING the meeting
This. Those calling for "just let everyone know en masse", and having been in that very situation, it does not go well. It basically turns into a shouting match as emotions erupt and the folks getting let go feed off each others' disappointment. They did this right the first time. Not wanting to do it one on one, frankly, feels like folks are trying to avoid having to tell someone personally and avoid that moment of having to be empathetic and human to another person.
Yes, this. As a person who has unfortunately had to lay off many people over the decades, knowing first and 1-on-1 is a far better approach for the individual and the remaining company morale. For you guys it is a "mass casualty" event, for the affected people it is a personal execution with personal impact. Have the hard talk, let them vent if necessary, and earn your pay as a manager by dealing with the discomfort. Also, the mass announcement of impending layoffs is just putting an axe over everyone's head and causes stress/drama, and the employee base amplifies the negative vibe as uncertainty lingers.
That sounds like the best approach. Maybe even have them tell them just before the meeting so that they don't tell someone else, and then the rumour mill gets people all anxious.
Guys learning a hard lesson about unchecked growth. The goal of every business should be to stay in business as long as possible. Not simply to grow as much as possible. Growth always carries debts.
A mass layoff meeting where you're just like 'if you're in this room, you've been laid off' is a bad approach and would make you look like assholes. It also makes you look cowardly, like you're literally afraid to face the people you're letting go. That's basically what you're saying in this video too, that it would be awkward for you. Don't be like that. Give these people the respect they deserve and see them one on one. You can try to justify it all you like and be like 'hey, this isn't your fault, this isn't about you' but that's clearly a lie. You are having supervisors make a list of their direct reports, rate them, and tell you who they are willing to lose. That is 100% 'about them.' The person who doesn't make the cut is the last pick at dodgeball, we all know what that means, don't pretend otherwise. The least you can do is tell them to their face and give them a one on one conversation about what's happening, why, and what they can do next.
What a slap in the face to the workers, can’t believe they were visibly upset that a one on one conversation with employees was a bad idea. I’m not saying I could captain the ship better, but I thought that was a no brainer. Hope all the employees bounce back swiftly from this.
The use of passive language really bothers me in this explanation. Blaming the market/environment/the customer is a scapegoat. Any worker who has no agency in the products they are making is going to blame the management for dropping the ball. Saying "Nobody messed up" it dodging the massive responsibility of poor product and poor marketing. MGT was good, but it was never going to be the thing the company does forever. Your "Core" that needs to stay and ALSO needs more profit should be taking a bigger hit for their failures. Doug specifically. This entire video is more of a spin-job than an explanation.
@@VagabondTE It could be possible, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'm not a business expert but i think the market for a table with a trench that costs $2000-8000 is limited. To "get out there and make sales" they need something to sell that the market needs or wants. US consumers, who watch wyrmlyfe, who need a table with a trench, who dont already have one, who want to invest in heirloom furniture to survive a long time, who have money to spend on a luxury item. that venn diagram is way too small. Wyrmwood realized this when they started marketing this to crafter instead of table top gamers. They wanted to change the market to include non US residents and non gamers. that's smart, but they also need to correct some of those other sticking points. Make non tables, maybe non trench, maybe advertise to non broke youths. or fill in the middle ground of price points between dice vaults to prophesy. Or maybe I'm crazy.
MGT is expensive, and niche. It’s not something you buy multiple of. It’ll continue in sales, but in a much smaller amount long term. They need the next “big thing” to keep this level if staffing
Let's just remember how the news and people reacted to mass layoff meetings when it wasn't personable in the last three years. Personal might suck more for both parties but when the dust settles they will have more respect for you because you had the professionalism and respect for them to look them in the eyes and do it individually. Just as a group is a cowards way out of dealing with the emotions and hurt that comes with losing a job that I suspect a lot if not all of them love.
This is what happens when you structure your company around kickstarter surges. You repeatedly beef up to bring those wait times down, and then have this down season. Find the balance, and I mean actively seek it out. *Ron Swanson voice* I'm afraid what you heard was "do another kickstarter." That's not what I said. Find the balance.
Exactly, its basically the same trap keystone was in. Keystone would make more send it out and wait for the payment from stores, basically the same surge process as kick starter. I think if they also made a second website for some nice furniture, like say the table with out the under storage system and sold them as nice bespoke furniture. That's two skus from one product with min design time or modified production. They are now a furniture company for better or worse and need to think like one.
Honestly, it should have been one on one with Doug doing it. "There has to be some humanity" Good, be a man and look them in the eye. Especially since from what I heard Brie and Doug didn't talk to anyone. They just handed out the pink slips and f'ed off.
1) Personal is the best way because it gives the person being laid off the space to be emotional without all of their peers seeing them. 2) Doug talks about how it was strategic decisions that lead to the need for this layoff, yet none of those leaders responsible for those decisions seem to be impacted by it. In fact, Doug declares that they have to protect those core people making those decisions (namely himself).
This. This wasn't the fault of the people having to take the consequences for it. This was a failure of management and leadership. The fact that they're all being protected and, in some cases rewarded, is just not a good way to run things. You're going to end up with more bad decisions.
Your workers are people, yes to you, it sucks to have to do the one on ones. But think of it from their point of view, they just lost their job during a cost of living crisis. That's going to be devastating news for those workers. Treat them with the respect of privacy when they receive that information. The people in that meeting who said they would prefer it in a group setting are saying that while knowing they aren't going to be in that group.
Doug can't pay attention to anything that isn't coming out of his own mouth. Sad really. It called headupyourassitus. There is no cure for it. Eventually the sufferer sufficates on their own farts that have just been recycled through the respiratory tracked over and over again, blind and deaf to the world around them.
To talk about getting rid of ~50% of your workforce and also discuss 1/3rd profit to shareholders is actually mad. Completely inconsiderate. Try taking ownership of your poor decisions at the same poit of firing your staff instead of blaming the 'economy'
@gislo the 'shareholders' in this case are the owners of the company. Do they deserve to profit from the effort they put in to make a successful business? Of course. But they should also accept that during an economic downturn (because of their poor decisions) should they suck it up? In my opinion yes. I would also like to add they state they are still profitable. If they need to downsize and fire people, at least follow HR and treat them like people instead of cattle and firing them with little notice.
@@ChrisBenjamon I dont disagree with the last part, but the first part is just how it works. I even dare say that most would do the same in their position. Its business, and "we are" not family with our business leaders and owners. We just are not.
@@gislojustifying this as just business without acknowledging the inherent unfairness of it, creates an environment where labor must respond in an adversarial way. Regardless of how common it is, ownership squeezing labor to insure profit regardless of management success is wrong and has long term negative consequences for both the individual companies and society.
@@ChrisBenjamon I'm coming in on this all late, but if there is no profit there should be no payout to the shareholders. Dividends are about profit, here the company is in a loss cycle. If shareholders insist on dividends in the situation then they should either divest themselves or vote in a new board of directors who can replace the CEO/CFO etc at the annual stockholders meeting (presuming normal business standards). Expecting profit in a downturning market is stupidity.
First, my heart goes out to those affected by the layoffs. Hopefully everyone lands on their feet quickly! It's never fun when a company has to restructure and I wouldn't wish it on anybody. Now with that out of the way, I mainly watch this channel because of the trainwreck the decision makers are at this company and this video did not disappoint! Some of the louder voices in the group seem to have some issues if they feel a one-on-one meeting is a personal attack. No one is saying you have to sit there for 5-10 minutes explaining to each individual their inadequacies, culminating in a grandiose over the top "you're fired!" If they have experienced that, I feel sorry for them because no one deserves that. That said, just be adults, thank them for their contributions to the company, tell them they unfortunately no longer have a position at the company, have them meet with Troy/HR for any paperwork, etc. (if needed) and then move on. Is it a great experience for either person?! No! But at least you treated them with honesty and respect instead of like cattle. The business related decision making at this company is mind-boggling more often than not and I'm unfortunately going to continue to hate watch this channel because of it!
This is why you have unions. Also all the 'it's not about you'/'it isn't personal' garbage when you're literally talking about managers ranking people below them by their merits.
To be honest, I would be surprised if they ever listened to Troy. Doug has made it clear long ago he didn't want to hire HR. But it was done when those employees asked for better safety regulations... I wonder how many of those employees survived the layoffs from last year and this. Doug was pretty butt hurt when it happened, and he has shown to be pretty petty (see said speech when those regulations were asked for)
"this is mass casualty event, this is not about you or you or you" sounds like it is 100% spoken from the perspective of a chief, and 0% from the perspective of the affected individual. For each person who gets fired, it is about them. Going home to your family, before the holidays, and tell them you have to look for a job. That is very personal. I am genuinely surprised about that take. As a leader, you should imo be better at either recognizing this is not your strong suite and therefore follow the advice of an expert, like your HR expert, or be better at seeing the individuals affect by your leadership.
I've seen both sides of this. The guy that was laid off and the guy that stayed and literally had their job DOUBLED overnight because Jimmy (my work buddy) was let go. I eventually had to find something else- but at least I had time to do that. The instability in these companies causes so much pain. Either way, I have learned that I need to find a new place to make my money.
The lack of disciplined leadership here is depressing. If you are having Operations Managers and Leads sitting on a meeting, the path needs to already have been decided and you are informing them of what they need to execute on. This should already have been decided before you brought anyone under director level in. This is not the sort of thing you workshop or brainstorm with anyone who's in the office that day. You have a plant manager torpedoing your Director of HR, who is collecting a free paycheck apparently, since nobody but Jason is listening to him. The fact that Doug facilitated everyone pulling the rug out from under the one person in the room EVERYONE should be listening to is asinine. You hired an HR Director. Let the man do his job. A massive reorg resulting from a major company failure where titles are just being shuffled around and no real change in ownership/management?! I look forward to the next company disaster that was "nobody's fault".
in order to get steady sales, wyrmwood needs to have a mainstream product line. everything you make and sell now is WAY too niche for it to ever be steady sales. ya;ll need to make some basic ass sh*t like shelves, stands, chairs, etc. that have appeal outside the gaming world as well. Ikea sells a TON & it's garbage. there's no middle ground between their stuff and Restoration Hardware pricing. Wyrmwood box shelves like ikea's kallax would sell a ton of volume, consistently and would keep a steady cash flow.
Originally I felt bad that I wasn't going to be able to get anything likely due to the tarrifs, (I am on the other side of the border and I imagine there will be a response to any imposed tarrifs that would price anything out of reach that I would be interested in. I am a little disappointed that anyone would be cheering on tarrifs. But that's a small thing compared to a company doing a layoff in this manner. Right before Christmas is the absolute worst time anyone could do this. Families are usually always struggling this time of year more than any other, and with inflation, that's only going to be worse. Tarrifs may be a boon for domestic sales, but on the other hand if the new government is putting tarrifs on everything, the prices of all commodities not made in the country will increase exponentially, and people are definitely not going to be buying luxury items. And people in countries outside the states are definitely not going to be buying them as there are likely to be retaliatory tarrifs. Anyway, my heart goes out to the families and workers affected by this. What a terrible time of year for this to happen.
@@joshjones853 it isn’t deleted, it’s just is unlisted from the main feed. It can be found in multiple playlists on their channel. They have cleaned up the feed for a long time to feature (I assume) their “ideal” content, but very rarely delete videos. I think that makes sense to do when the content is heavily tied to the same channel that also handles the majority of their marketing until recently. But they aren’t hiding that content from the wyrmlings
He hasn't figured out that most of the woods they use are imported. Doug is, as ever, not really that great at business and not as smart as he thinks he is.
If I were chosen for a layoff, I would appreciate a one on one to hear from the company that I was a respected employee and maybe even get an appology that it had to be me, it would provide a sense of closure, and for people who that isn't important to the meeting will be real quick
In previous episodes he has already said that he and the other founders only get paid $33/hr 40 hours a week and they take a cut of the profits if there are any.
why would he or should he? They're laying off people, not cutting paychecks. that's why they're cutting 50% of the company and trying to attain a 10% profit margin......so wages don't go down. boo hoo the CEO makes more than a person on the floor. get over it. That'll never change
Remember when you had several episodes where you talking about hiring a new marketing person last December (they are not unlisted, but you can still find them)? And you got to the point of finding someone you liked? Then Doug intervened and said “nevermind, I know marketing, I can handle this?” So Doug has been the operating CMO since Jan 2024 but in this vid lies and says "for the last quarter"? Doug, every job lost (68 employees let go 2 days before Thanksgiving) is a direct failure of your management. I hope it keeps you up at night. EDIT: Wyrmwood has dozens of videos that contradict statements Doug has made in the past that are now "Unlisted" on RUclips. It's unclear WHEN they were Unlisted, but looking at SocialBlade it seems it happened in October. Maybe they knew the layoffs were coming so they started unlisting videos to hide the evidence of Doug's contradictions?
The fact that they just laid off a bunch of people says otherwise. He decided to be CMO rather than hiring someone with actual experience, the marketing failed, and now an unspecified number of people are going into the holidays without work.
@@solonys9775 It's also frustrating that at 14:27 Doug says "As far as I am concerned, nobody messed up". He's once again not taking responsibility for his actions and how it just put so many people out of work. He wants to reduce wages by half, and since "The Core" isn't changing, and they have the highest salaries, it likely means over HALF of WW employees are being let go. In "What Happens to Your Business When Trump is President?" Doug said they have roughly 160 employees. That's over 80 employees about to lose their jobs. This is 4x worse than the layoffs they had LAST December (those layoffs happened right before the holiday as well, but they waited to post the video til January to not seem as bad. How is that for "transparency"?) And does Doug decide to bring in outside help this time? Nope. Just gonna pass the baton to Bobby, someone with no credentials to be a CMO, but he's Doug's yes-man so of course he gets rewarded. I like WW's quality of goods: but I am sad to say I will only ever buy it secondhand. I can appreciate the artistry, but I don't want to reward poor leadership with my money.
Growing the company as quickly as it did to fulfill all the MGT orders to me never felt like something that could be sustainable long-term, and here's the result. I wonder if it would have made more sense to have a limited contract upfront with workers for a set amount of time, and then the potential for that contract to be renewed. May have been harder to find workers, but at least it would have been an understanding upfront and not this massive morale blow now.
I think a few things would be in good faith 1 everyone should have 2 weeks notice or more. Those 2 weeks should focus on helping them transition. Get them help writing a new resume. Reaching out to recruiters. Updating thier indeed. 2. Everyone in upper management should write a letter of recommendation for those people.
It's usually a bad idea to tell people they are getting laid off and let them continue working. Warning of layoffs and why layoffs are needed is a good idea so people are not blindsided, I know it damages morale, but it at least people are not blindsided. Severance packages are also a good idea. That allows people to do the things they need like update resumes and start looking for work for a time without having to worry about money. Especially severance packages that come with job finding services.
I'm in a bit of a middle ground. I was laid off in one of several small groups and I really appreciate that. I wasn't alone but it wasn't in front of everybody keeping their jobs either. When everything was being processed we joked with each other about how much it sucked. I think groups but only with the people being laid off is the best approach.
laying off people right before the holidays is cruel. You couldn’t have waited until the last week in December? Or better yet, the first week in January?
Sorry you guys are going through this. One GLARING thing i DIDNT see on your board though.... Product. Or NEW product, rather. A way to invigorate your base into buying new stuff all over again. Youve got to get new ideas or customized options for the OLD ideas. Go back to some of the things that made you a company to begin with...unique, customized items. The MGT was always only gonna get you so far. You've been building "heirloom" furniture. When every gamer has one, that's it, its over. You're not gonna expand into the "Common man" sector. The non-gamer household is not gonna buy a gaming table for the sake of it. So you need to come up with things that your EXISTING mgt ppl can use to customize the current tables out there. Best thing i can think of off the top of my head is CNC'd toppers. Or some sort of applied design on them. Things that make the table more unique to the individual. Its the same thing with the standard gaming accessories. I own a basic dice tray. I didnt NEED or WANT to buy another. Then you came out with Frank Frazetta art trays. I ended up buying one of those because i thought it was unique and amazing. Im still waiting for you to do it over again so I can....guess what....? Buy another. Till then I have no reason to buy more "standard" items from you. I wish you the best with the difficult time ahead.
@@Galahax the amount of Drama in the RPG space this year surrounding the OGL etc, and 5.5e at least amongst my friends I've noticed a huge knock on chilling effect from even the people not directly caught up on it that didn't even hear about it. Wouldn't be surprised if RPG stuff was down across the board, let alone luxury furniture (yes MGT is luxury for a lot of us) in the current climate.
A good CMO will understand this. BOBBY! If you're reading this...do market research with your existing customers! You guys have crazy loyalty...you need to understand what the "boss" wants! That's as much marketing as SEO.
I'm not sorry for Wyrmwood. I am sorry for the staff who will be laid off due to gross mismanagement and poor decision making. Wyrmwood screwed international MGT backers. I'm still waiting for replacement parts for my table. Wyrmwood told the entire world they didn't give a damn about anyone outside of America, so the rest of the world is simply returning the middle finger - that market they *could* have had to sell those products if they'd simply lived up to their promises.
@@AmstradHero I know what they said on the channel, they aren't polite about it, but the costs of large/heavy item shipping overseas is nuts for such a small scale company.
@@BartGasiewski I don't disagree that them shipping internationally is hard. But they sold it themselves as a "craftsman's promise" that backers, no matter where they are, would get replacement parts. The amount they charged for shipping for international customers was astronomical - for me it was over half the cost of my actual table and accessories. Them failing to deliver on their promise is my problem, because I have a table that doesn't live up to the promise of the product or the support that they sold to me. But the backlash and complete lack of care or trust I have in them as a company, is their problem, and it only exists because of a combination of their actions and inaction.
Begging you guys to understand that the MGT success was because of the COVID stimulus money. Cutting back on operations makes sense for now, but if you want to increase your sales next year, you need to find a way to lower prices or really promote your payment plans. Your luxury market is not showing up and your average market can’t afford a $1200 desk.
Maybe Brianna and Doug should listen to the person they hired for HR than their personal feelings. This episodes shows you dont have personal allegiance to your employees. Doug fucked up and the employees are paying for it.
It's interesting to see business leader Doug and to see that things aren't always sunshine and rainbows in business. They're really hitting the reality of market shifts and sadly having to downsize to meet the market. They're laying people off, not terminating them, which I think is a very important point here. The difficulty with choosing the ones to layoff has to be emotionally taxing. Unfortunately at the end of the day, you have to do what's best to stay in business and stay profitable, or your business will go bankrupt. I think they have a hard road ahead this year, but they'll face casuallties, but come out stronger in the end.
Troy is right having been on both sides. You go inform and walk out everyone one on one and then have an all hands to talk with the people still with the company.
The CEO and other "leaders" are the ones directly to blame. They don't understand the market and make excuses for their decisions. Basic leadership means taking responsibility for your decisions and treating all employees with dignity and respect. NEVER EVER fire or layoff personnel in a group meeting; Troy is correct that you do this individually, even if it takes more time. Hopefully those people that were let go off will quickly find other work; horrible timing at the holidays.
Here we go again: another video deleted due to backlash. I mean, there's clearly something really wrong going on, and even the decision to upload a video like this shows that.
I asked for apothecary style furniture to help store all of these board games and RPGs before. Would spend money on more space saving furniture, I only have so many rooms to put tables in.
you didn't watch the whole video, apparently. Doug literally took accountability about his role as CMO and said he is stepping back. He covered market impact on the big ramp for MGT. None of it was predictable and he said it wasn't about an "individual."
@vyktamus Doug also stepped back years ago because of a ton of backlash. Then he jumped right back in after like a year-ish and ran it right into the ground again.
You didn’t do anything wrong, the CMO didn’t deliver on sales and has been sacked. the CEO didn’t smile when he thinks about you though so we’re deciding to terminate your employment effective immediately…unless you want to hang around and chat with the people the fired you and didn’t want to have a hard conversation with you one on one.
@@EmoKillsBest I'm not a huge fan of Doug, but 20% growth for your fiscal year is no where near running into the ground. You just don't know what you're talking about here
The person to blame is Doug. I can’t believe he says ‘No one is to blame, it’s the market.’ HE sized the company wrong. He’s the CEO. That 1/3rd to shareholders should have been the first thing cut. I feel bad for Troy. He’s left to pick up the pieces.
"The Market is the boss" is the most dumbass thing I've heard him say yet. Maybe you should ask your fucking boss what they want? Maybe you should create ways to figure out what your boss is telling you? Maybe you should listen to other experts who have experience in understanding "the boss." Passing the buck like that just makes him look like MORE of a dumbass.
as a company owner myself - my goodness, listen to your HR guy. He's talking about dignity, humanity and respect. Those words should be clicking with something in your brain as he's saying them. If he's having to bring it up at all, and your position is "yeah but this other thing" you're on dodgy ground.
the weirdest part of this is that the leadership team isn't taking responsibility. you talk about cutting payroll, how much is the leadership team giving up? any of them getting laid off? obviously proven some of them don't have the core skills to run a profitable company. acting just like hasbro and all the tech companies. the fact you made a wyrmlife video and didnt think of how bad this would make you look is ridiculous.
Sorry but the line about nobody fucked up is utter bullshit. As the CEO the buck stops there Doug! You as the CEO are responsible. Taking a cut of profits to given to shareholders when the leadership of the company failed adds even more insult to the folks laid off right before thanksgiving. The fact you continue to refuse to hire a proper CMO not Bobby who seems to get bored when the product he is trying to promote is old (MGT) is not the answer. If you wanted to show real leadership, the C suite should be taking a paycut in solidarity until the company returns to profitability at the very least. Why is it that when the C suite at any company fucks up, it's never anybodies' fault.... but we still have to layoff the normal workers? WW, this is disgusting and I don't see myself purchasing any products from you in the future and would rather go elsewhere when I'm in need of accessories for my MGTs or other wood products.
Troy and Brie both make excellent points- there must be a human element to this process, and communication should be as efficient and clear as possible. From my experience in a lay-off/downsize/restructure/[insert corporate euphemism] situation, different people will have different needs. Not everyone is going to want or need a 1-on-1, but I think it should be offered as a default with an opt-OUT for those who don't feel the need/want. I don't believe an opt-IN solution works 100%, as that leaves room for the option to be missed by someone who would've needed it and that should be avoided at all costs, especially at such a time of the year where financial vulnerability is potentially massively impacting the affected crew. The part that is most challenging to navigate is the impact on morale, and that's entirely in the wheelhouse of the human element that Troy touched upon. Numbers can be sorted and calculated with much less worry later and should not be the focus of the communication during the lay-off process. For leaders, having had these meetings myself, I can confirm that it's BRUTAL having these 1-on-1 meetings, it can get emotional for the affected individual, but it's necessary like Troy said, to demonstrate that they're not just a number being ticked off of a spreadsheet somewhere. It is an emotionally taxing step, but utterly necessary to offer anyone who is being laid off, in my opinion. For the employees, the biggest impact in morale is seeing it happen slowly without knowing if you were affected or not. It is CRUCIAL to communicate to the affected individuals their impact ASAP, but it's also ESSENTIAL to inform those who were not impacted, to give them peace of mind, minimize the impact to their morale, and also create an opportunity for them to ask questions if they have any- while we say the ones who were laid off were the ones "affected by the lay offs", the truth is the remaining crew is also impacted, and that should not be neglected. Giving the remaining crew the space to express how they feel, and very importantly, voice their concerns to have them addressed is an incredibly valuable step to mitigate the negative impact on team morale. This is most certainly posted after the fact (and a major flub if this is how anyone at WW is finding out), but hopefully Troy's push to offer 1-on-1s was not completely brushed to the side, it seemed like Brie and Doug were against it and no one else was actively supporting it, aside from Jason recognizing the value of Troy's input on such a suggestion. Leadership require the emotional intelligence to identify the needs of your team and only each of the individual managers/leads could hopefully account for what best suits any of their affected team members- but that's also a lot to put on each lead's shoulders. That's why it's better to take an approach that offers that support space by default in my opinion- anyone that doesn't take it has specifically acknowledged/communicated that they don't need or want it. I hope everyone finds some kind of blessing going into this holiday season.
I mean how many tables can a limited customer base need? Scaled too fast for any hope of long term sustainability. These dudes banked it fast while they could.
Yeah I mean I'm not a business expert but I was always confused they kept pushing tables so hard and kinda let accessories languish (in my view) I'm only going to buy one table. I could buy accessors for that table forever. Of course, continuing to develop new accessories has associated costs but still
Feel like this would have been better handled In hindsight by managing the demand for manufacturing with contract labor. Especially knowing that business would scale back down after MGT fulfilled or as the backlog reduced. I also feel like these layoffs don’t hit equally. It’s the production floor that gets hit, without realizing that there’s also top loaded salaries that aren’t generating direct revenue.
Somewhere an MBA candidate is mining this channel. I want to read that paper, I think it’s titled “Not the sharpest tool in the shop. A case study of an arrogant CEO and his yes men.”
Been waiting for this shoe to drop. You could see the signs for months. They scaled up really big and have been struggling to make the sales on the website for a while now so I felt it was only a matter of time before the layoffs. Props to them for pushing it off as long as they could and trying to do right by their workers. At the end of the day though, the market does what the market wants and this is just business. Just my two cents do layoffs individually. Everyone knows they will happen and that the people being kept are more valuable in some way, but as another person said, a group firing is the coward's way out. Again, it's not personal, it's just business. Best of luck lol
It's easy to say that ex post facto. Let's be real: 99% of the people dooming and glooming here wouldn't have seen this coming until social media posts told them explicitly.
@@LabTech41 I get what you're saying, but it has been apparent. They revamped the website and have been talking about how they want out of kickstarter and want more website sales for months. And if you watch all the videos, they talk about not getting those website sales. It is admirable that they have been able to keep things going and working well for their employees while selling a luxury product. But at the end of the day, the writing was on the wall, "they aren't getting sustainable website sales, and people aren't buying luxury products in this economy." I like wyrmwood and was rooting for them, but this is just how it goes sometimes. I'm glad it's a restructure instead of something worse like bankruptcy. To be fair though, talking about cutting 50% of payroll is not good.
@@LabTech41 i knew they were fucked while they were doing the MGT videos and didn't have a clue how to raise the grain on wood before finishing it, at that point i realized not one of them were actually craftsmen but just designers. Also it's easy to see this happening when you are in a niche market TTRPGs, then make it more niche by charging outrageous prices for glorified slabs of wood, then expecting the sales to continue after their one big boom in sales during covid. Buying Keystone was a short-sighted panic buy, they signed a ridiculous lease a couple years ago that like tripled if not more their rent, and let's not forget their scandal from a year or so ago.
@@TheAciddragon069 So, I can go back to those videos and see you making those predictions years in advance, right? Why don't you just come clean and admit you don't like Doug's personal politics? You should get that off your chest, so that you can purge a bit of the bile and be honest for a change.
Modular shelving. Modular entertainment centers. I think if they want to grow and sustain then furniture is probably the way to go and they gotta go. Not just lilliputz around with dog beds and coffee tables
Really sucks that you are doing this right during the holidays. This is really something that should have been done back in September or waited until after the new year.
It happened over a month ago I'm sure. They have been here before and have navigated the uncertainty before and come out better on the other end. From a business perspective, the restructure is necessary in order for the company to survive
@@SailorRalph Nope, a few folks have commented on this thread that were part of the lay offs and said it happened last Tuesday, so 2 days before Thanksgiving.
![LAVROV's interview with Tucker CARLSON 😁 [Parody]](/img/1.gif)
You have an HR problem and an HR expert. Listen to the HR expert.
Obviously, this is likely being shown after the fact, but Troy has his head on straight. Please don't treat the staff as cattle.
yeah, the layoffs happened a day or so before Thanksgiving. Bad timing, but there's never good timing for things like this. Been waiting to see if they addressed it. I'm glad they did, and I honestly feel for them pretty hard - not just the folks that lost their jobs, but the guilt of the ones who survived and the shareholders and key players who had to make the decision. It's brutal and it sucks hard on both sides.
@@sindex "but the guilt of the ones who survived and the shareholders and key players who had to make the decision"
They'll be fine with their jobs (and in the case of Bobby, promotion) as well as their 1/3 profit share that is split amongst shareholders.
@@TakeACloserLook96 there's no way you'd have "survivor guilt" for keeping your job compared to others you worked with.
@@MrGoalie2012 if they're your friends and part of a tight-knit community, yeah you would. it's obviously not the same grief as losing your job but it's the kind of grief where a gulf gets thrust between families and friendships - that stuff hurts in different ways, it's not just about money
"Kickstarter is littered with the graves of companies that couldn't scale correctly" Dave literally said this when the MGT kickstarter launched.
"It's not personal" misses the point. To the workers affected, it is deeply personal. It's how they feed their families.
It's not personal when your job isn't on the line...
I think Doug has shown a thousand times by now he isn't very good at seeing stuff from other people's perspectives.
It isn't personal though. The people who lost their jobs aren't (at least based on this video) didn't lose their jobs because they didn't like them. It's simply a business decision and you cannot run a business and not make decisions that will negatively affect some individuals.
The more and more I see from Wyrmwood and the way they handle their business and employees makes it less and less likely I'll buy anything from them.
@@godlessveteran2431 That's immature. Do you have your own business? What hardships have you experienced that were exceedingly burdensome in that business? Is/was it a business of luxury? What are the ins and outs of luxury? And if any business of yours exists, for how long? How many employees?
Make whatever decision you'd like - but that mindset is immature without the full picture. All we have our their videos, not the real-time experience of dealing with anything in them.
Jesus Christ do NOT announce who got laid off in a group meeting. You hired Troy to do HR stuff, LET TROY DO HR STUFF!
He shouldn't do in a group but he should do it as a leader not HR. But he should have listened to his HR guy in this case. His HR guy is good (most HR aren't) but its a leadership thing not HR problem.
Using HR for things like that are a problem normally
@@SigfridSWEeach group leader should be breaking the news to the folks that are getting let go under their leadership.
@@SigfridSWE No, HR needs to be in there as there's paperwork and stuff to sign and handle. I've been laid off, HR was there. Also gives a witness if something goes south.
Having been through multiple layoffs (I'm in IT), it is MUCH better to be laid off as a group because you can then look around and plan which bar/restaurant to go to afterwards to talk about what a shitty day you are having. Briana has this one right.
@@joltman81 my favorite part is how people on here are speaking so definitively, with so much certainly, and contradicting each other. There is no "best way." There are only less bad ways. And it will be different from company to company depending on size and culture. Nothing any of you people are saying matters anyway because this has already taken place.
As someone from the shipping team who was laid off from Wyrmwood. I really wish that Troy was listened to and there was a human element involved because it sucks to be laid off, but to lose your means of support for your family right before Thanksgiving and Christmas is not only embarrassing, but utterly demoralizing and leaves a sour taste in your mouth. It would've been lessened if we weren't treated like dirt and thrown out the door. Layoffs are a necessary thing, I get it, but there is a right and a wrong way to handle it and the way it was dealt with last Tuesday was despicable. It also didn't help that the day prior we had learned of the unfortunate passing of one of our fellow coworkers so it was especially in poor taste.
That's a shitty way to go into the holidays. I hope you and your family are alright. I'm sorry for the loss of your coworker as well. I hadn't heard that one yet. Totally sucks.
I am so sorry to hear about you being let go, and your coworker's passing. I wish you, your family, and their family the best moving forward.
ouch, that's rough. i wish you luck in getting back to work. i hate hearing of good people getting the shaft. stay strong!
They aren't always necessary but the c suite always makes excuses to make it seem that way.
@@chameleon83 'Me and my friends are the core, nothing bad will happen to us'
"Nobody messed up". I run a small company. I know who messes up when we run out of cash in 99% of the time - me.
Agree. The people who got laid off are going to see this and say the same thing about Doug. And they're right.
Layoffs happen but to hear him say that loyalty counts and we have to be humans and all of that stuff and then proceed to lay off nearly half your workers right before the holidays is anything but humane and loyal.
Have you ever seen a room full of little monsters, playing a game trying to pretend they are human? You now have... ;)
Note: Also the math doesn't add up. If weekly sales are $300k, that's $15.6 million after 52 weeks (a year), and not $30+ million. And the KS only raised ~$2 million in 2024 on the KS site, probably a few million more in the pledge manager... Either those weekly sales from the website have gone down instead of the ~20% increase or half their sales come from KS and why the heck would you stop doing those if they bring in half you revenue? If there's $600k production being done per week, that's $31.2 million of product. That's what they've been making the last three years. Either something is being badly communicated or something is off...
@@Cergorach bare in mind KSs cut but yes something is very off and it's typical capitalism in the modern age.
Covid was a blip not a sign that growth would be ever lasting.
I think anyone with an ounce of common sense could see that but sadly corporations all too often just see $$$ and chase rainbows for perpetual, every increasing revenue and profits.
Wyrmwood's other brain cell should have noticed a global economic downturn. During such times really expensive purchases like heirloom gaming accessories are no longer on the list of priorities for most people.
This would obviously mean drop off.
Add to that basically not servicing Europe... well like I say, it doesn't take a genius to work it out.
Carrying twice the amount of staff you need for another two months increases the risk of having to make more cuts later. It would suck just as much for individuals to lose their jobs after Christmas as it would just before.
@@dealbreakerc If they found themselves in an 'emergency' layoff situation that couldn't be managed for two more months then catastrophic mistakes were made a year ago. And if you think getting laid of just before Christmas is just as bad as being laid off after Christmas, I think you're either single with no kids or you've never been laid off just before Christmas.
He's talking for the camera
Sorry this is happening. A few things:
> I don't think shareholders should be getting a third right after doing layoffs. That should be a target down the road.
> You should also be taking a pay cut at the top level to show that you're willing to feel the pain as well. This would be a gesture of good-will that you've minimized lay-offs to the extent that you can. As you said, you failed to get website sales up enough. Ultimately there should be a price for that failure. Feels like CEOs always get bonuses for success, and no consequences beyond lack of bonus for failure. That's not the experience of the average worker. For most of us, failure means material pain.
> What happened with Christmas/Black Friday? Your Christmas promo seems very lackluster compared to last year. If sales are down, you should be going for every angle and gimmick. I feel like even watching Wyrmlife I haven't seen anything very enticing this year. Nothing of interest for Halloween either. Again, I think there are a lot of failures at the top going on here.
> Layoffs before Christmas are always a bad call if you want good will and to avoid bad PR. Hope there's severance at least.
Yeah, sadly the amount of advertisement I've seen this year has been 1/100th of what I've seen before, is it only that they are targeting other platforms than YT?
They had an episode a while back talking about severance agreements.
One word. Complacency.
wasn't the 1/3 thing a goal they want to reach? Nobody said they were doing this now. Also that 1/3 is likely their pay and maybe that already is a cut. We do not know what it was before. Also if they made this video public now, all of this has likely happened already quite some time ago. That is not to say, that they did not mess up in many ways (like dough canceling the hiring of a CMO, pivoting towards mass production to begin with rather than focusing on the quality they were known for, etc. but I feel like we lack a lot of information to make such sweeping statements)
I’ve been reading a lot recently that a lot of people would prefer to be fired before doing Christmas shopping as opposed to spending like you have a job and then suddenly not.
Given Doug's attitude of "nobody fucking messed up" I think Doug should be offering personal letters of recommendation and assistance with finding new jobs.
He'd gladly write one for anyone who'd want or need one. Plus, I'm pretty sure they've got those severance agreements set up for situations like this.
Agreed. My last job let me go and this is what they did for me.
The people leading the company into aggressive over expansion, that means half the workforce is getting cut fucked up.
That's literally the C Suites jobs. To understand the market, and do the dance. They fucked up.
@@ThePesmerga2007 THIS.
And if they don't understand the market or their aspect of their job: THEY ASK SOMEONE. Not just pretend they know what they're talking about, draw on a piece of paper and laughingly call it "marketing." So damn insulting to their workforce.
Well as the Head of Marketing Doug did fuck up he didnt drive enough sales its all on him. Crypto Doug will be fine. The closure of Pennsylvania will happen. The share holders should vote to hire a outsIde CEO.
50% is almost a death knell for the rest of the company that doesn't get laid off. Morale is gonna be hit so massively that quality of production is going to suffer. Between survivor's guilt and other employee's bitterness towards the upper management of a company going through this, I guarantee that some of the best employees you do keep will be looking to leave anyway.
This would be true of any company doing a 50% labor reduction.
This is doubly true of a company that records the layoff planning meeting and puts it on YT.
From what I have seen from alleged employees, this exactly what happened. Morale is so low that no one cares about what they are making anymore.
As someone who has been laid off multiple times, the one on one isn't necessarily the problem. It's the knowing that layoffs are coming and holding your breath to see if you're one of them. And then your manager comes into the room of 30 individuals and says "Josh, can I speak with you in my office?". That "walk of shame" to their office is the worst part because you know what it's about, but you're holding onto hope that you get in there and they say "so, you're not one of the layoffs...". But they never say that.... :(
As someone whose been fired (and I suspect it was actually a redundancy in disguise) I've spent years reliving it in my head looking for meaning. I'd have much rathered the transparency shown in this video, and if it is a group setting, in a group. But 50% is FUCKING rough.
Yeah, personally I would try to set it up so that managers meet with each of their direct reports to avoid that. It also gives an opportunity to answer questions from those who will remain. You'll still have the inevitable "Were you cut?" questions. Of course, in some businesses, there is fear that if you don't escort laid off employees they may sabotage something on their way out, though I think that's more of an issue if you A) don't treat your employees well in the first place, and B) don't deliver the news well.
100% this. I was made redundant this year and I had it hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles for a *month*.
Honestly, by that point, finally getting confirmation I wasn't going to have a job anymore was actually a relief. At least then I had concrete information I could begin to work with and plan ahead for.
If I could implore Doug to do one thing, it's ensure that the process is as fast as it legally can be. Your employees don't deserve the stress of a drawn-out process.
If I had to go through it, and they were going to do group announcements, I'd have everyone go to two different rooms after announcing that there will be layoffs.
And then tell the group that's going they are and the one that's not they aren't.
So that from announcing what's happening to find out is only a few minutes, so that it isn't hanging there for too long.
But that's still a very impersonal way to handle things. And lacks the compassion they voiced wanting to keep.
Ugh, I had such flashbacks to my own experiences with this. Well said.
First, you hired an HR person to do HR stuff. Let Troy do his job. Second, shareholders don't need a third. Some level of profitability, but a third is too much. Third, management should take a pay cut to offset some of the layoffs. It is management's job to keep the company profitable (up to a point as the market does influence success) so any failures should be shouldered more by them than the workers. Fourth, make products that are more affordable. Catering to a niche group of gamers that are better off than others means you have a limited customer base. Not saying you have to make cheap tables, but cheaper appeals to more people thus growing your customer base. Lastly, do layoffs IN PERSON. Give the employee a chance to vent. Most people will understand, especially if management has taken the pay cuts to show support.
Well, who do you think those "shareholders" are? (hint: Doug put their names in the 'core' circle on his whiteboard)
Doug has made it clear his comfort comes first everytime at this point. He doesn't want to disrupt his friend group, cut his own pay, or even do the stand up thing and give people 1 on 1 meetings for layoffs.
Bravo. Well put.
@@spambaitpro I saw that, thus the comment about the 1/3 to shareholders.
You should also let your employees rate their supervisors.
“It’s nobody’s fault” is such a scapegoat to personal responsibility for management execution of their plan that didn’t work
The managements failure of execution was explicated noted in the video. It's nobody's fault was audience specific, with the audience being the employees and the venue being that initial announcement meeting.
Dougs failed theory cost people their jobs, he makes mistakes but does not suffer. He has the disease, the employee suffers the symptoms. Congrats
SOMEONE decided to gear up to sell $250 million dollars of gaming tables as quickly as possible. SOMEONE made that decision and effectuated it, knowing that they are in a limited market (expensive, custom board gaming tables). SOMEONE is “at fault” for all that is about to happen, and I believe it’s rather obvious who that is. How is lack of “sustainability” of this business model any kind of surprise????
Part of the issue in any ramp up with a lag in deliveries is….liabilities…and what is more dangerous is holding the customers money. Often, it can result in confusing how healthy you are.
Maybe they could have said…new employee we hope to keep u long term but at moment we can guarantee u a year because we have a fulfillment issue….like Amazon at Christmas time, but for a year.
Sadly feel the same way. But in business you gotta grow, and they must have felt the next big thing was around the corner (desks, pet bed).
@@Cb13379 Problem is most people are perfectly happy with a gaming desk that costs them a few hundred bucks at most. And with the way my pets wreck stuff, I'm not laying down that kind of money for a pet bed for them either.
@@Cb13379the lack of transparency and preparation for failure is why people dislike and distrust companies. For the company and the owners that can't really be fired, hoping for and building for success makes perfect sense, but for the workers it is far more about predicability and planning. WW has a known organic sales number and a Kickstarter sales backlog. The company should have always been structured around that reality and not around a mythical conversion of Kickstarter numbers to annual sales. It is a good thing to be added to the A team from a term position on the B team. It is devastating to be cut from the A team.
@@godlessveteran2431 and tbt the MGT was overpriced for glorified IKEA furniture made out of fancy wood
The guy saying "respect the dignity of the person" is spot on, imo. There's no good way to fire people right before the two biggest holidays in the United States. But there's definitely a worse way to do it, and it's treating people like a number.
Having been fired in November and knowing on how hard it is to job hunt during the holiday season, I would have liked to have been kept on until the end of the year. Or at least have been paid through the end of the year
@@jonahw6516 Paid through EOY would have been a decent move for sure. WM would still have reduced spending by not overproducing in December, and it would have had PR benefits internally and externally that would be worth the expenditure IMO.
I did hear that they ended giving those affected at least a severance, which in combination with Massachusetts Unemployment will likely be a good chunk to keep those people with food on the table with the ability to job search.
Don't get me wrong severance is basically the bare minimum companies should do, but a lot don't even do that.
Oh, and Troy is right. You can do a big meeting too if you want, but tell those affected first. Few people are really going to believe it isn't, to some degree, about them and their performance... because at least partially it is.
I mean they literally said a few sentences prior to send around an excel file in which team leads are supposed to rate the performance of everyone… other factors as well, but it is essentially based on a person by person evalutation it seems…
They can say as much as they want it isn't personal, I guarantee that the people laid off will feel it's pretty DAMN personal. I've been there. It was personal.
@@QuethasGaming They already confirmed it is personal, they said are subjectively rating each employee.
@@TheBaldrthey also said that no one fucked up therefore rating people seems unfair
"nobody messed up" says the guy who has been messing up for the past few years.
For instance, not listening to his HR guy.
Didn't they do layoffs a couple of years ago and they did them all individually?
The shareholders need to replace this clown.
He’s one of them though… isn’t he?
@akasnuggie yes he is. And sadly I think most of the shareholders are his family, so I don't think he will be removed. He definitely should be though.
"It's no-one's fault"
"We built this company for volume that is not sustainable"
Pick one. Didn't hear much accountability in this monologue at all.
Doug took a token "L" on his failure as CMO, but definitely he should look in the mirror a bit regarding the sales volume.
I mean, the first line was addressed at the employees that have to be laid off and that it was not their fault. At least that is how I understood it. Stating that they overstaffed the company sounds like they see their mistake. I also assume that if they have a 300k deficit and a 180k workforce, the money they paid the people that are going to be laid off won't be the only things they cut. The 1/3 Shareholder thing sounded like they did not cut their own pay, but we do not know what it was before. We are not seeing the full picture here, only what they showed, which was mainly an explanation on why they are doing it, not what else they are going to cut.
@@vyse4907 Problem is, many folks could see this mistake happening in real time and called it out. It was obvious to anyone that understands business.
Having been laid off personally and in a group. The group option sucks. Individually you can actually see the person doing it, is doing it because it is the hard choice and it isn't personal.
Having been both laid off in group and in personal meeting. I prefer the group. Though in the group, I knew I was getting laid off well in advance and I was well prepared. The company lost the contract that my division was supporting services for. The other time I was totally blindsided by email saying HR wanted to me with me at the end of the day for a personal meeting. I think I was just more angry at the blindside method.
@@TheBaldr That's the problem, it's not a one size fits all thing. Some people will like the group, others will want the individual touch.
Likely the best middle ground would be to do it in small groups, department by department.
So there can be a more personal group dynamic.
But yeah, blindsiding is just not the way to do it.
But at least you still got it in person, they could have just had HR email you the notice instead.
Lots of big faceless corporations like that method.
I have even heard some places don't even really tell people, just one day their key card to get in stops working and there's an announcement poster on the front door.
Group or one on one, direct human interaction is the way to do it.
@@TheBaldr if you knew well in advance it could be easier in a group. When the group one happened to me, we walked in on a Monday morning and they gathered the teams to be let go just before the end of the day to do it
Ive been laid off both ways. Group option was 'better' and brianna sums it up perfectly, you see others around and it isnt you alone. When you sitting at your desk seeing others go one by one, you sitting there anxious if it going to be you or not. Group its like getting a bandaid pulled off quickly. WHen it was a goup they said if anyone has questions we are here and you can talk to your manager one on one.
In a 1-1 it isnt like your going to convince your manager or HR person not to let you go.
Not the most important point of this: but it makes zero sense to have had four meh kickstarters this year, and not hire an actual marketing person. Bobby and team obviously can make high quality creative videos, but they aren't reaching new audiences and aren't translating into sales.
The current kickstarter is at about a million dollars right now, since it's only counting $250 deposits for each backer that will turn into minimum $3,000 each. I wouldn't call that 'meh'.
@@stpatty3310 MGT 3.0 = $1 million, Diceapalooza = $564K, MGT Europe = $321K, MGT Xmas = $70K. There is a clear declining trajectory there, and compared to MGT 2.0 which had twice as many backers as MGT 3.0, I stand by my statement that the current team sucks at reaching new audiences and translating marketing into actual sales.
@@stpatty3310 It's pretty meh when you consider that there are other avenues of making sales. Kickstarter isn't just a crutch anymore. It's becoming an anchor.
@@stpatty3310 maybe they should stop using kickstarter full stop. since a lot of people just flat out will refuse to use it because theres no guarantee with it. the company can just take the money and make nothing. They should just be selling products. They don't need to "kickstart" anything, they are already a furniture production company. Companies who keep using kickstarter are also more looked down on now for this reason, it puts the risk on the people paying money up front, and its a really crappy way to do business. They would get more sales if they actually just sold things.
That would involve listening to anyone at all who wasn't their core guys. They prove over and over again that they're unwilling to do that. They're turning Kickstarter into a sort of Ponzi scheme where they can't survive until the next Kickstarter funds.
Then they have to hit a certain threshold on each KS to make it even worth investing in the product, machinery, and staff to successfully deliver and they're not there. It's unsustainable and has proven to be so for the last couple years. And then they're putting their energy into mediocre dice as a get rich quick scheme? It's ridiculous.
The more I watch Wyrmwood in the last year or so, the more I realize their success is despite their ownership and management, not because of it. Listening to Doug complain about how awkward it would be to sit one on one with people he's laying off before the holidays is honestly gross. I used to look at their company as exactly the kind of workplace I would want to work in, that couldn't be further from the truth here though.
their success was latching on to Critical Role at the start and riding it for 6/7 years. they are not craftsmen, they are not builders, they are designers. i knew the company was in over their heads when they were having trouble with the grain raising on the maple MGT, once i figured out they didn't know that you had to finish the wood, sand it back down to smooth then finish it again i realized they didn't know what they were doing.
I think the Dougie show is over.
Been a Wyrmling for years now, so I saw the first huge layoff and Doug moving out of the CEO position. Now it happens again.
I'm a SWE, let go from my company at the end of October after pitching new software to my CEO. 2 weeks later, my company downsized.
I sympathize and empathize more with the workers. Of all times of the year why Thanksgiving/Christmas... Like why not March, no one gives a shit about March.
Doug - you're showing how out of touch you are. You're Chief of Marketing, where's your accountability in all of this
Noooo you always lay someone off one on one. It shows respect for them as an individual. You do it massively and it seems like you don't give a shit about any of them and they're disposable and you never cared about them.
I’m here to help however I can!!!
Ed you will be successful no matter what you decide to do! You have some awesome capabilities and character to boot. I’d watch a show of just you doing you for sure 🤙🏻
@ thank you
Ed. Watched you on wyrmwood which then got me on your channel. Wish I had your skills. Hope you are sticking around. Hopefully something happens and they keep growing and can hire everyone back. Maybe more international growth or maybe a different brand of lower end products to keep money rolling in. Either way I know you all will do everything you can.
@@myhandle527 I’ll do whatever I can to help
@crazy-Ed, you are the fucking man.
Troy is correct. It’s more respectful to an employee to have a direct conversation with them in which they are allowed to voice their opinions and more important allow a company to personally thank them and answer any questions that they have.
and even give an employee a chance to defend their position and bring up anything that may contradict a decision being made.
TROY IS THE GODDAMN MAN. He understands Dignity and Respect for Workers.
Managing those human resources!
Remember that time they interviewed for an actual CMO, then Doug decided he could do it himself despite his lack of experience? Pepperidge farm remembers
And did Doug learn from his mistakes this time? Nope. Kick the can down the corporate ladder and let Bobby, someone who has no credentials and was initially hired as a woodworker, take the role. Surely nothing can get worse.
@@TakeACloserLook96 I mean they're not getting rid of Bobby. And hiring a high paying gig like CMO while laying off so many employees is not good for morale.
Yes, and it was DEFINITELY WAYYYYY longer than 1 Quarter ago. Doug needs to take responsibility here for ignoring marketing for more than a YEAR and a half. THEY KNEW this was a problem that needed addressing. They had the website sales showing tepid demand especially compared to KS. It had nothing to do with availability and everything to do with reach. It is such a basic mistake to make that someone with an undergrad degree in marketing could've spotted it. But the CEO's disdain for training has really hurt the company. Hopefully he can be humble enough to listen to the people who actually know what their talking about (Troy) and hire the correct people. They have a great product with a great team and a great functioning (well they did anyways) manufacturing apparatus. They just have to feed the hopper! I would love to see what their marketing/sales funnel conversion metrics look like!
@@DangerFieldProd You can keep Bobby on without promoting him.
Yeaa.. Doug is brilliant about some things, but when it comes to managing employees or big sweeping decisions, he's a bit of a disaster
Maybe try voluntary layoffs before mandatory layoffs. I worked in a factory that when orders dropped they went around and asked if anyone wanted to take a voluntary layoff before just laying people off.
The issue with that is you can end up losing the workers you would rather have kept and keep the workers you would have rather not.
So while it is the method that makes people feel the best about the situation.
If your aim is to retain your skilled workers first and foremost, then it can cause issues with doing that.
@@Targe0 a lot of those skilled workers are going to look at this situation, and then look for opportunities elsewhere. This isn't Wyrmwood's first layoff, not their first during the holidays.
This is a company that doesn't learn lessons. And that means one person is at fault. And that person's name rhymes with Mug Bostello.
Saw this coming months ago when he was saying there was basically infinite sales out there, they just need to reach them. Not true at all.
Yeah, they're making a niche product for a niche hobby. Not every gamer out there can lay down the kind of money for their products..they've already made their market smaller just based on price alone. Not saying the quality doesn't demand the premium price, it does. But you're not selling to every family out there. You're selling to a small segment of the population in the grand scheme of things. Not sure why they didn't grasp that. Probably cause they're barely gamers themselves.
Yeah, when Doug was saying "we have millions of views on Instagram! That means we have millions of people who want this table!" I realized - Oh my god Doug has no clue how marketing / online video works. This company is screwed. And now here we get to watch the 4th layoff video on this channel. And yes, it is the 4th, they just unlisted the other ones.
When my company delivers news about a few people being laid off there's a big meeting and they say "the people involved have already been notified prior to this meeting" - that makes me (who's not being laid off) feel it was handled fairly
And no one panics DURING the meeting
This. Those calling for "just let everyone know en masse", and having been in that very situation, it does not go well. It basically turns into a shouting match as emotions erupt and the folks getting let go feed off each others' disappointment.
They did this right the first time. Not wanting to do it one on one, frankly, feels like folks are trying to avoid having to tell someone personally and avoid that moment of having to be empathetic and human to another person.
Yes, this. As a person who has unfortunately had to lay off many people over the decades, knowing first and 1-on-1 is a far better approach for the individual and the remaining company morale. For you guys it is a "mass casualty" event, for the affected people it is a personal execution with personal impact. Have the hard talk, let them vent if necessary, and earn your pay as a manager by dealing with the discomfort. Also, the mass announcement of impending layoffs is just putting an axe over everyone's head and causes stress/drama, and the employee base amplifies the negative vibe as uncertainty lingers.
That sounds like the best approach.
Maybe even have them tell them just before the meeting so that they don't tell someone else, and then the rumour mill gets people all anxious.
Got to go with Troy on this one. He's your subject matter expert in this area.
Guys learning a hard lesson about unchecked growth. The goal of every business should be to stay in business as long as possible. Not simply to grow as much as possible. Growth always carries debts.
A mass layoff meeting where you're just like 'if you're in this room, you've been laid off' is a bad approach and would make you look like assholes. It also makes you look cowardly, like you're literally afraid to face the people you're letting go. That's basically what you're saying in this video too, that it would be awkward for you. Don't be like that. Give these people the respect they deserve and see them one on one. You can try to justify it all you like and be like 'hey, this isn't your fault, this isn't about you' but that's clearly a lie. You are having supervisors make a list of their direct reports, rate them, and tell you who they are willing to lose. That is 100% 'about them.' The person who doesn't make the cut is the last pick at dodgeball, we all know what that means, don't pretend otherwise. The least you can do is tell them to their face and give them a one on one conversation about what's happening, why, and what they can do next.
What a slap in the face to the workers, can’t believe they were visibly upset that a one on one conversation with employees was a bad idea. I’m not saying I could captain the ship better, but I thought that was a no brainer.
Hope all the employees bounce back swiftly from this.
@@Nekroviking- That's disgusting. Shame on them, especially just before the holidays.
And yeah, someone did screw up. It just wasn't the people that lost their jobs. It was the people running the company that royally fucked up.
Business updates about Wyrmwood: 80% "We can't produce/deliver our orders fast enough." 20% "We don't have enough orders."
The use of passive language really bothers me in this explanation. Blaming the market/environment/the customer is a scapegoat. Any worker who has no agency in the products they are making is going to blame the management for dropping the ball. Saying "Nobody messed up" it dodging the massive responsibility of poor product and poor marketing. MGT was good, but it was never going to be the thing the company does forever. Your "Core" that needs to stay and ALSO needs more profit should be taking a bigger hit for their failures. Doug specifically.
This entire video is more of a spin-job than an explanation.
Actually, I think MGT is absolutely something the company can do forever. They just need to actually get out there and make the sales to support it.
@@VagabondTE It could be possible, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'm not a business expert but i think the market for a table with a trench that costs $2000-8000 is limited.
To "get out there and make sales" they need something to sell that the market needs or wants.
US consumers, who watch wyrmlyfe, who need a table with a trench, who dont already have one, who want to invest in heirloom furniture to survive a long time, who have money to spend on a luxury item. that venn diagram is way too small.
Wyrmwood realized this when they started marketing this to crafter instead of table top gamers. They wanted to change the market to include non US residents and non gamers. that's smart, but they also need to correct some of those other sticking points. Make non tables, maybe non trench, maybe advertise to non broke youths. or fill in the middle ground of price points between dice vaults to prophesy.
Or maybe I'm crazy.
MGT is expensive, and niche. It’s not something you buy multiple of. It’ll continue in sales, but in a much smaller amount long term. They need the next “big thing” to keep this level if staffing
Ya.....let the guy you hired who do HR do HR.
Let's just remember how the news and people reacted to mass layoff meetings when it wasn't personable in the last three years. Personal might suck more for both parties but when the dust settles they will have more respect for you because you had the professionalism and respect for them to look them in the eyes and do it individually. Just as a group is a cowards way out of dealing with the emotions and hurt that comes with losing a job that I suspect a lot if not all of them love.
@@Nekroviking- The Brave Brave Sir Robin approach.
Having Doug yawning while saying he has to restructure the company in the beginning is foreshadowing he's attitude by the end of the video.
As an employee, I can say that we ALL know that, at the end of the day, we are ALL just numbers on a spreadsheet. Nothing more.
This is what happens when you structure your company around kickstarter surges. You repeatedly beef up to bring those wait times down, and then have this down season. Find the balance, and I mean actively seek it out. *Ron Swanson voice* I'm afraid what you heard was "do another kickstarter." That's not what I said. Find the balance.
Exactly, its basically the same trap keystone was in. Keystone would make more send it out and wait for the payment from stores, basically the same surge process as kick starter. I think if they also made a second website for some nice furniture, like say the table with out the under storage system and sold them as nice bespoke furniture. That's two skus from one product with min design time or modified production. They are now a furniture company for better or worse and need to think like one.
Honestly, it should have been one on one with Doug doing it. "There has to be some humanity" Good, be a man and look them in the eye. Especially since from what I heard Brie and Doug didn't talk to anyone. They just handed out the pink slips and f'ed off.
1) Personal is the best way because it gives the person being laid off the space to be emotional without all of their peers seeing them.
2) Doug talks about how it was strategic decisions that lead to the need for this layoff, yet none of those leaders responsible for those decisions seem to be impacted by it. In fact, Doug declares that they have to protect those core people making those decisions (namely himself).
This. This wasn't the fault of the people having to take the consequences for it. This was a failure of management and leadership. The fact that they're all being protected and, in some cases rewarded, is just not a good way to run things. You're going to end up with more bad decisions.
Your workers are people, yes to you, it sucks to have to do the one on ones. But think of it from their point of view, they just lost their job during a cost of living crisis.
That's going to be devastating news for those workers. Treat them with the respect of privacy when they receive that information.
The people in that meeting who said they would prefer it in a group setting are saying that while knowing they aren't going to be in that group.
Doug clearly didn't pay attention to the crap show that happened at blizzard when they had their mass layoffs
Dougie doesn't pay attention to a lot of things.
@@soapboxk2203 But will happily talk like he did, which is frustrating to watch.
I don't think he really pays attention to much that isn't in his own head.
Doug can't pay attention to anything that isn't coming out of his own mouth. Sad really. It called headupyourassitus. There is no cure for it. Eventually the sufferer sufficates on their own farts that have just been recycled through the respiratory tracked over and over again, blind and deaf to the world around them.
To talk about getting rid of ~50% of your workforce and also discuss 1/3rd profit to shareholders is actually mad. Completely inconsiderate.
Try taking ownership of your poor decisions at the same poit of firing your staff instead of blaming the 'economy'
...yeah keep dreaming. Would you do that as a shareholder? They take financial risk, they expect a pay out OR they will risk their money elsewhere.
@gislo the 'shareholders' in this case are the owners of the company. Do they deserve to profit from the effort they put in to make a successful business? Of course. But they should also accept that during an economic downturn (because of their poor decisions) should they suck it up? In my opinion yes. I would also like to add they state they are still profitable.
If they need to downsize and fire people, at least follow HR and treat them like people instead of cattle and firing them with little notice.
@@ChrisBenjamon I dont disagree with the last part, but the first part is just how it works. I even dare say that most would do the same in their position. Its business, and "we are" not family with our business leaders and owners. We just are not.
@@gislojustifying this as just business without acknowledging the inherent unfairness of it, creates an environment where labor must respond in an adversarial way. Regardless of how common it is, ownership squeezing labor to insure profit regardless of management success is wrong and has long term negative consequences for both the individual companies and society.
@@ChrisBenjamon I'm coming in on this all late, but if there is no profit there should be no payout to the shareholders. Dividends are about profit, here the company is in a loss cycle. If shareholders insist on dividends in the situation then they should either divest themselves or vote in a new board of directors who can replace the CEO/CFO etc at the annual stockholders meeting (presuming normal business standards). Expecting profit in a downturning market is stupidity.
First, my heart goes out to those affected by the layoffs. Hopefully everyone lands on their feet quickly! It's never fun when a company has to restructure and I wouldn't wish it on anybody. Now with that out of the way, I mainly watch this channel because of the trainwreck the decision makers are at this company and this video did not disappoint! Some of the louder voices in the group seem to have some issues if they feel a one-on-one meeting is a personal attack. No one is saying you have to sit there for 5-10 minutes explaining to each individual their inadequacies, culminating in a grandiose over the top "you're fired!" If they have experienced that, I feel sorry for them because no one deserves that. That said, just be adults, thank them for their contributions to the company, tell them they unfortunately no longer have a position at the company, have them meet with Troy/HR for any paperwork, etc. (if needed) and then move on. Is it a great experience for either person?! No! But at least you treated them with honesty and respect instead of like cattle. The business related decision making at this company is mind-boggling more often than not and I'm unfortunately going to continue to hate watch this channel because of it!
Unsubscribed. the people on the top of this company are delusional. Troy knows his stuff. Company will be gone in less than 5 years.
14:28 Fallacy. you messed up Doug. When you decided to grown the company based on the top line instead of bottom line, like Jason wanted to.
This is why you have unions. Also all the 'it's not about you'/'it isn't personal' garbage when you're literally talking about managers ranking people below them by their merits.
If i'm Troy i am fleeing this job ASAP. if my experiance is not being listened to this is no longer the job for me.
To be honest, I would be surprised if they ever listened to Troy. Doug has made it clear long ago he didn't want to hire HR. But it was done when those employees asked for better safety regulations... I wonder how many of those employees survived the layoffs from last year and this. Doug was pretty butt hurt when it happened, and he has shown to be pretty petty (see said speech when those regulations were asked for)
"this is mass casualty event, this is not about you or you or you" sounds like it is 100% spoken from the perspective of a chief, and 0% from the perspective of the affected individual. For each person who gets fired, it is about them. Going home to your family, before the holidays, and tell them you have to look for a job. That is very personal.
I am genuinely surprised about that take. As a leader, you should imo be better at either recognizing this is not your strong suite and therefore follow the advice of an expert, like your HR expert, or be better at seeing the individuals affect by your leadership.
Ya that was a gross comment. He's not thinking of the individual in any meaningful way.
I've seen both sides of this. The guy that was laid off and the guy that stayed and literally had their job DOUBLED overnight because Jimmy (my work buddy) was let go. I eventually had to find something else- but at least I had time to do that. The instability in these companies causes so much pain. Either way, I have learned that I need to find a new place to make my money.
The lack of disciplined leadership here is depressing. If you are having Operations Managers and Leads sitting on a meeting, the path needs to already have been decided and you are informing them of what they need to execute on. This should already have been decided before you brought anyone under director level in. This is not the sort of thing you workshop or brainstorm with anyone who's in the office that day. You have a plant manager torpedoing your Director of HR, who is collecting a free paycheck apparently, since nobody but Jason is listening to him. The fact that Doug facilitated everyone pulling the rug out from under the one person in the room EVERYONE should be listening to is asinine. You hired an HR Director. Let the man do his job.
A massive reorg resulting from a major company failure where titles are just being shuffled around and no real change in ownership/management?! I look forward to the next company disaster that was "nobody's fault".
in order to get steady sales, wyrmwood needs to have a mainstream product line. everything you make and sell now is WAY too niche for it to ever be steady sales. ya;ll need to make some basic ass sh*t like shelves, stands, chairs, etc. that have appeal outside the gaming world as well. Ikea sells a TON & it's garbage. there's no middle ground between their stuff and Restoration Hardware pricing. Wyrmwood box shelves like ikea's kallax would sell a ton of volume, consistently and would keep a steady cash flow.
Wonder if Doug is still pumped about the tariffs like he was in the deleted video?
Interesting, why do you think they deleted it?
Originally I felt bad that I wasn't going to be able to get anything likely due to the tarrifs, (I am on the other side of the border and I imagine there will be a response to any imposed tarrifs that would price anything out of reach that I would be interested in. I am a little disappointed that anyone would be cheering on tarrifs. But that's a small thing compared to a company doing a layoff in this manner. Right before Christmas is the absolute worst time anyone could do this. Families are usually always struggling this time of year more than any other, and with inflation, that's only going to be worse. Tarrifs may be a boon for domestic sales, but on the other hand if the new government is putting tarrifs on everything, the prices of all commodities not made in the country will increase exponentially, and people are definitely not going to be buying luxury items. And people in countries outside the states are definitely not going to be buying them as there are likely to be retaliatory tarrifs. Anyway, my heart goes out to the families and workers affected by this. What a terrible time of year for this to happen.
@@joshjones853 it isn’t deleted, it’s just is unlisted from the main feed. It can be found in multiple playlists on their channel. They have cleaned up the feed for a long time to feature (I assume) their “ideal” content, but very rarely delete videos. I think that makes sense to do when the content is heavily tied to the same channel that also handles the majority of their marketing until recently. But they aren’t hiding that content from the wyrmlings
He hasn't figured out that most of the woods they use are imported. Doug is, as ever, not really that great at business and not as smart as he thinks he is.
I think Troy is right on this
If I were chosen for a layoff, I would appreciate a one on one to hear from the company that I was a respected employee and maybe even get an appology that it had to be me, it would provide a sense of closure, and for people who that isn't important to the meeting will be real quick
Is the core the reason the company has stagnated?
This has to be addressed, or its just more bad decisions.
What pay cut is Doug taking? Seems like management isn't really owning their mistakes and just passing the buck on
While explicitly protecting profits to shareholders as well...0 consequences for Doug
He is a multi millionaire from BitCoin. He does not need money from Wyrmwood and would be the first to cut his salary.
In previous episodes he has already said that he and the other founders only get paid $33/hr 40 hours a week and they take a cut of the profits if there are any.
@@BDParmer Yet doesn't seem he has done so.
why would he or should he? They're laying off people, not cutting paychecks. that's why they're cutting 50% of the company and trying to attain a 10% profit margin......so wages don't go down. boo hoo the CEO makes more than a person on the floor. get over it. That'll never change
Remember when you had several episodes where you talking about hiring a new marketing person last December (they are not unlisted, but you can still find them)? And you got to the point of finding someone you liked? Then Doug intervened and said “nevermind, I know marketing, I can handle this?” So Doug has been the operating CMO since Jan 2024 but in this vid lies and says "for the last quarter"?
Doug, every job lost (68 employees let go 2 days before Thanksgiving) is a direct failure of your management. I hope it keeps you up at night.
EDIT: Wyrmwood has dozens of videos that contradict statements Doug has made in the past that are now "Unlisted" on RUclips. It's unclear WHEN they were Unlisted, but looking at SocialBlade it seems it happened in October. Maybe they knew the layoffs were coming so they started unlisting videos to hide the evidence of Doug's contradictions?
your wrong bud he knows marketing well.
@@JB-eo3iq Totally, as evidenced by how much money they're hemorrhaging due to their lack of sales.
/s
The fact that they just laid off a bunch of people says otherwise. He decided to be CMO rather than hiring someone with actual experience, the marketing failed, and now an unspecified number of people are going into the holidays without work.
@@solonys9775 It's also frustrating that at 14:27 Doug says "As far as I am concerned, nobody messed up". He's once again not taking responsibility for his actions and how it just put so many people out of work.
He wants to reduce wages by half, and since "The Core" isn't changing, and they have the highest salaries, it likely means over HALF of WW employees are being let go. In "What Happens to Your Business When Trump is President?" Doug said they have roughly 160 employees. That's over 80 employees about to lose their jobs. This is 4x worse than the layoffs they had LAST December (those layoffs happened right before the holiday as well, but they waited to post the video til January to not seem as bad. How is that for "transparency"?)
And does Doug decide to bring in outside help this time? Nope. Just gonna pass the baton to Bobby, someone with no credentials to be a CMO, but he's Doug's yes-man so of course he gets rewarded.
I like WW's quality of goods: but I am sad to say I will only ever buy it secondhand. I can appreciate the artistry, but I don't want to reward poor leadership with my money.
@@solonys9775 still better than you
Growing the company as quickly as it did to fulfill all the MGT orders to me never felt like something that could be sustainable long-term, and here's the result. I wonder if it would have made more sense to have a limited contract upfront with workers for a set amount of time, and then the potential for that contract to be renewed. May have been harder to find workers, but at least it would have been an understanding upfront and not this massive morale blow now.
I hope the core is getting similar pay as workers during layoffs.
LOL, I've been hearing "we're leaving Kickstarter" for years now.
I think a few things would be in good faith
1 everyone should have 2 weeks notice or more. Those 2 weeks should focus on helping them transition. Get them help writing a new resume. Reaching out to recruiters. Updating thier indeed.
2. Everyone in upper management should write a letter of recommendation for those people.
It's usually a bad idea to tell people they are getting laid off and let them continue working. Warning of layoffs and why layoffs are needed is a good idea so people are not blindsided, I know it damages morale, but it at least people are not blindsided. Severance packages are also a good idea. That allows people to do the things they need like update resumes and start looking for work for a time without having to worry about money. Especially severance packages that come with job finding services.
Why is this even a video? Even releasing it after the layoffs actually happened it isn't a good look
I'm in a bit of a middle ground. I was laid off in one of several small groups and I really appreciate that. I wasn't alone but it wasn't in front of everybody keeping their jobs either. When everything was being processed we joked with each other about how much it sucked. I think groups but only with the people being laid off is the best approach.
laying off people right before the holidays is cruel. You couldn’t have waited until the last week in December? Or better yet, the first week in January?
Sorry you guys are going through this. One GLARING thing i DIDNT see on your board though.... Product. Or NEW product, rather. A way to invigorate your base into buying new stuff all over again. Youve got to get new ideas or customized options for the OLD ideas. Go back to some of the things that made you a company to begin with...unique, customized items. The MGT was always only gonna get you so far. You've been building "heirloom" furniture. When every gamer has one, that's it, its over. You're not gonna expand into the "Common man" sector. The non-gamer household is not gonna buy a gaming table for the sake of it. So you need to come up with things that your EXISTING mgt ppl can use to customize the current tables out there. Best thing i can think of off the top of my head is CNC'd toppers. Or some sort of applied design on them. Things that make the table more unique to the individual.
Its the same thing with the standard gaming accessories. I own a basic dice tray. I didnt NEED or WANT to buy another. Then you came out with Frank Frazetta art trays. I ended up buying one of those because i thought it was unique and amazing. Im still waiting for you to do it over again so I can....guess what....? Buy another. Till then I have no reason to buy more "standard" items from you.
I wish you the best with the difficult time ahead.
@@Galahax the amount of Drama in the RPG space this year surrounding the OGL etc, and 5.5e at least amongst my friends I've noticed a huge knock on chilling effect from even the people not directly caught up on it that didn't even hear about it. Wouldn't be surprised if RPG stuff was down across the board, let alone luxury furniture (yes MGT is luxury for a lot of us) in the current climate.
A good CMO will understand this. BOBBY! If you're reading this...do market research with your existing customers! You guys have crazy loyalty...you need to understand what the "boss" wants! That's as much marketing as SEO.
I'm not sorry for Wyrmwood. I am sorry for the staff who will be laid off due to gross mismanagement and poor decision making. Wyrmwood screwed international MGT backers. I'm still waiting for replacement parts for my table. Wyrmwood told the entire world they didn't give a damn about anyone outside of America, so the rest of the world is simply returning the middle finger - that market they *could* have had to sell those products if they'd simply lived up to their promises.
@@AmstradHero I know what they said on the channel, they aren't polite about it, but the costs of large/heavy item shipping overseas is nuts for such a small scale company.
@@BartGasiewski I don't disagree that them shipping internationally is hard. But they sold it themselves as a "craftsman's promise" that backers, no matter where they are, would get replacement parts. The amount they charged for shipping for international customers was astronomical - for me it was over half the cost of my actual table and accessories.
Them failing to deliver on their promise is my problem, because I have a table that doesn't live up to the promise of the product or the support that they sold to me. But the backlash and complete lack of care or trust I have in them as a company, is their problem, and it only exists because of a combination of their actions and inaction.
Begging you guys to understand that the MGT success was because of the COVID stimulus money. Cutting back on operations makes sense for now, but if you want to increase your sales next year, you need to find a way to lower prices or really promote your payment plans. Your luxury market is not showing up and your average market can’t afford a $1200 desk.
Desks were wayyy too late for Covid wfh surge.
Don't worry, once the tariffs kick in those cheap Chinese desks will cost just as much and sales will skyrocket! /s
Maybe Brianna and Doug should listen to the person they hired for HR than their personal feelings. This episodes shows you dont have personal allegiance to your employees. Doug fucked up and the employees are paying for it.
It's interesting to see business leader Doug and to see that things aren't always sunshine and rainbows in business. They're really hitting the reality of market shifts and sadly having to downsize to meet the market. They're laying people off, not terminating them, which I think is a very important point here. The difficulty with choosing the ones to layoff has to be emotionally taxing. Unfortunately at the end of the day, you have to do what's best to stay in business and stay profitable, or your business will go bankrupt. I think they have a hard road ahead this year, but they'll face casuallties, but come out stronger in the end.
Gods, I'm glad I don't work for you. Doug and Bree are COLD🙈
Troy is right having been on both sides. You go inform and walk out everyone one on one and then have an all hands to talk with the people still with the company.
The CEO and other "leaders" are the ones directly to blame. They don't understand the market and make excuses for their decisions. Basic leadership means taking responsibility for your decisions and treating all employees with dignity and respect. NEVER EVER fire or layoff personnel in a group meeting; Troy is correct that you do this individually, even if it takes more time. Hopefully those people that were let go off will quickly find other work; horrible timing at the holidays.
Here we go again: another video deleted due to backlash. I mean, there's clearly something really wrong going on, and even the decision to upload a video like this shows that.
Will be interesting if the layoffs will affect management in any meaningful way.
Looking back at the history of this company...it won't.
"We have to keep the core"
Absolutely nothing will happen to upper management
I asked for apothecary style furniture to help store all of these board games and RPGs before. Would spend money on more space saving furniture, I only have so many rooms to put tables in.
Honestly this^
Sounds like the management team needs to be restructured. I hear zero accountability in this video.
you didn't watch the whole video, apparently. Doug literally took accountability about his role as CMO and said he is stepping back. He covered market impact on the big ramp for MGT. None of it was predictable and he said it wasn't about an "individual."
@vyktamus Doug also stepped back years ago because of a ton of backlash. Then he jumped right back in after like a year-ish and ran it right into the ground again.
You didn’t do anything wrong, the CMO didn’t deliver on sales and has been sacked. the CEO didn’t smile when he thinks about you though so we’re deciding to terminate your employment effective immediately…unless you want to hang around and chat with the people the fired you and didn’t want to have a hard conversation with you one on one.
@@EmoKillsBest I'm not a huge fan of Doug, but 20% growth for your fiscal year is no where near running into the ground. You just don't know what you're talking about here
@MagickP00dle They're literally canning 50% of the workforce. That looks like "into the ground" to me.
Listen to the HR guys, he is usually correct
YUP! Like when he said "We need a marketing director ASAP" a year and a half ago. whups!
The person to blame is Doug. I can’t believe he says ‘No one is to blame, it’s the market.’ HE sized the company wrong. He’s the CEO. That 1/3rd to shareholders should have been the first thing cut.
I feel bad for Troy. He’s left to pick up the pieces.
"The Market is the boss" is the most dumbass thing I've heard him say yet. Maybe you should ask your fucking boss what they want? Maybe you should create ways to figure out what your boss is telling you? Maybe you should listen to other experts who have experience in understanding "the boss." Passing the buck like that just makes him look like MORE of a dumbass.
Kind of surprised they didn’t do contract based rolls for the MGT backlog handling. It’d then not be a layoff but a contract non renewal.
as a company owner myself - my goodness, listen to your HR guy. He's talking about dignity, humanity and respect. Those words should be clicking with something in your brain as he's saying them. If he's having to bring it up at all, and your position is "yeah but this other thing" you're on dodgy ground.
the weirdest part of this is that the leadership team isn't taking responsibility. you talk about cutting payroll, how much is the leadership team giving up? any of them getting laid off? obviously proven some of them don't have the core skills to run a profitable company. acting just like hasbro and all the tech companies. the fact you made a wyrmlife video and didnt think of how bad this would make you look is ridiculous.
> Nobody fucked up
> I fucked up
> We need to protect the core (which includes me, who fucked up)
*fires half the staff*
Maybe it's the core who needs to be let go...
I feel for the workers.
Who would have guessed the market for overpriced gaming furniture was smaller than expected.
Sorry but the line about nobody fucked up is utter bullshit. As the CEO the buck stops there Doug! You as the CEO are responsible. Taking a cut of profits to given to shareholders when the leadership of the company failed adds even more insult to the folks laid off right before thanksgiving. The fact you continue to refuse to hire a proper CMO not Bobby who seems to get bored when the product he is trying to promote is old (MGT) is not the answer. If you wanted to show real leadership, the C suite should be taking a paycut in solidarity until the company returns to profitability at the very least. Why is it that when the C suite at any company fucks up, it's never anybodies' fault.... but we still have to layoff the normal workers? WW, this is disgusting and I don't see myself purchasing any products from you in the future and would rather go elsewhere when I'm in need of accessories for my MGTs or other wood products.
Oh hey someone else that noticed Bobby couldn't have cared less about the last MGT kickstarter. Welcome. Cookies are in the corner.
Troy and Brie both make excellent points- there must be a human element to this process, and communication should be as efficient and clear as possible. From my experience in a lay-off/downsize/restructure/[insert corporate euphemism] situation, different people will have different needs.
Not everyone is going to want or need a 1-on-1, but I think it should be offered as a default with an opt-OUT for those who don't feel the need/want. I don't believe an opt-IN solution works 100%, as that leaves room for the option to be missed by someone who would've needed it and that should be avoided at all costs, especially at such a time of the year where financial vulnerability is potentially massively impacting the affected crew.
The part that is most challenging to navigate is the impact on morale, and that's entirely in the wheelhouse of the human element that Troy touched upon. Numbers can be sorted and calculated with much less worry later and should not be the focus of the communication during the lay-off process.
For leaders, having had these meetings myself, I can confirm that it's BRUTAL having these 1-on-1 meetings, it can get emotional for the affected individual, but it's necessary like Troy said, to demonstrate that they're not just a number being ticked off of a spreadsheet somewhere. It is an emotionally taxing step, but utterly necessary to offer anyone who is being laid off, in my opinion.
For the employees, the biggest impact in morale is seeing it happen slowly without knowing if you were affected or not. It is CRUCIAL to communicate to the affected individuals their impact ASAP, but it's also ESSENTIAL to inform those who were not impacted, to give them peace of mind, minimize the impact to their morale, and also create an opportunity for them to ask questions if they have any- while we say the ones who were laid off were the ones "affected by the lay offs", the truth is the remaining crew is also impacted, and that should not be neglected. Giving the remaining crew the space to express how they feel, and very importantly, voice their concerns to have them addressed is an incredibly valuable step to mitigate the negative impact on team morale.
This is most certainly posted after the fact (and a major flub if this is how anyone at WW is finding out), but hopefully Troy's push to offer 1-on-1s was not completely brushed to the side, it seemed like Brie and Doug were against it and no one else was actively supporting it, aside from Jason recognizing the value of Troy's input on such a suggestion. Leadership require the emotional intelligence to identify the needs of your team and only each of the individual managers/leads could hopefully account for what best suits any of their affected team members- but that's also a lot to put on each lead's shoulders. That's why it's better to take an approach that offers that support space by default in my opinion- anyone that doesn't take it has specifically acknowledged/communicated that they don't need or want it.
I hope everyone finds some kind of blessing going into this holiday season.
they are out of work, but 6 months later still waiting on my table....odd...
I mean how many tables can a limited customer base need? Scaled too fast for any hope of long term sustainability. These dudes banked it fast while they could.
Yeah I mean I'm not a business expert but I was always confused they kept pushing tables so hard and kinda let accessories languish (in my view) I'm only going to buy one table. I could buy accessors for that table forever. Of course, continuing to develop new accessories has associated costs but still
Feel like this would have been better handled In hindsight by managing the demand for manufacturing with contract labor. Especially knowing that business would scale back down after MGT fulfilled or as the backlog reduced.
I also feel like these layoffs don’t hit equally. It’s the production floor that gets hit, without realizing that there’s also top loaded salaries that aren’t generating direct revenue.
Somewhere an MBA candidate is mining this channel. I want to read that paper, I think it’s titled “Not the sharpest tool in the shop. A case study of an arrogant CEO and his yes men.”
Been waiting for this shoe to drop. You could see the signs for months. They scaled up really big and have been struggling to make the sales on the website for a while now so I felt it was only a matter of time before the layoffs. Props to them for pushing it off as long as they could and trying to do right by their workers. At the end of the day though, the market does what the market wants and this is just business.
Just my two cents do layoffs individually. Everyone knows they will happen and that the people being kept are more valuable in some way, but as another person said, a group firing is the coward's way out. Again, it's not personal, it's just business. Best of luck lol
It's easy to say that ex post facto. Let's be real: 99% of the people dooming and glooming here wouldn't have seen this coming until social media posts told them explicitly.
@@LabTech41 I get what you're saying, but it has been apparent. They revamped the website and have been talking about how they want out of kickstarter and want more website sales for months. And if you watch all the videos, they talk about not getting those website sales. It is admirable that they have been able to keep things going and working well for their employees while selling a luxury product. But at the end of the day, the writing was on the wall, "they aren't getting sustainable website sales, and people aren't buying luxury products in this economy." I like wyrmwood and was rooting for them, but this is just how it goes sometimes. I'm glad it's a restructure instead of something worse like bankruptcy. To be fair though, talking about cutting 50% of payroll is not good.
@@LabTech41 i knew they were fucked while they were doing the MGT videos and didn't have a clue how to raise the grain on wood before finishing it, at that point i realized not one of them were actually craftsmen but just designers. Also it's easy to see this happening when you are in a niche market TTRPGs, then make it more niche by charging outrageous prices for glorified slabs of wood, then expecting the sales to continue after their one big boom in sales during covid. Buying Keystone was a short-sighted panic buy, they signed a ridiculous lease a couple years ago that like tripled if not more their rent, and let's not forget their scandal from a year or so ago.
@@TheAciddragon069 So, I can go back to those videos and see you making those predictions years in advance, right? Why don't you just come clean and admit you don't like Doug's personal politics?
You should get that off your chest, so that you can purge a bit of the bile and be honest for a change.
Wyrmwood needs a Kallax replacement or hobby storage options to go with the tables, desks, lillipups..
yes Kallax insert! (also ship it to UK ty)
Modular shelving. Modular entertainment centers. I think if they want to grow and sustain then furniture is probably the way to go and they gotta go. Not just lilliputz around with dog beds and coffee tables
I have been saying this for years. a wyrmwood modular kallax that has pin holes so they could sell shelves would expand market
The price of Kallax can't be competed with if using real wood instead of fake stuff.
Upmarket Billy bookcases would be sweet... 🤔
My heart goes out to everyone involved on all sides of this situation. Everyone remember to breathe. :)
Really sucks that you are doing this right during the holidays. This is really something that should have been done back in September or waited until after the new year.
It happened over a month ago I'm sure. They have been here before and have navigated the uncertainty before and come out better on the other end. From a business perspective, the restructure is necessary in order for the company to survive
I mean they are showing the video publicly now. That likely means that this already happened a while ago already.
@@vyse4907 I was laid off and I can confirm this happened last week (11/26)
@@SailorRalph Happen the week before thanksgiving.
@@SailorRalph Nope, a few folks have commented on this thread that were part of the lay offs and said it happened last Tuesday, so 2 days before Thanksgiving.