All of these tech companies come up with cutesy terms for employees. "Googlers", "Plaids", "Metamates", "Splunkers", "Pinployees". It seems like a cheap way of tying workers' identities to The Company.
It's a cheap gesture used in an attempt to create a distinct "culture".
So in the context of a mass-termination, it really rubs me the wrong way to refer to these people as "Plaids". They're clearly not that, because you're sending them packing!
Lets get back to identifying our personnel with real terms. Employee, technician, associate, etc.
Plaid just gave me 16 weeks of pay, 6 months of insurance premiums, waived the vesting cliff I hadn't hit yet, and let me go with way more dignity than I've ever seen in my 20 year career (19 of those years spent at "normal" non-silicone Valley companies)...
...they can call me whatever the hell they want at this point and I'll be OK with it lol
Having worked at tech companies with cutesy employee nicknames, I really think that's overthinking it. It is probably a way to try to have more corporate unity, but it does not do so to a noticeable extent. And IMO it's more about tech companies trying to capture the whimsy of early Google - it's trying to have the vibe of "hey, it's a casual place - we call ourselves a stupid, silly nickname in our stupid, silly named company, as opposed to [Name] and [Name] corp." It worked better with Google, because Googler, and Noogler are extra ridiculous, but that's pretty much it.
I can guarantee you that the letter referred to Plaid employees as "Plaids" is quite literally the last thing on the minds of any current or ex Plaid employees. It's not that big of a deal. It's not particularly dehumanizing, nor brainwashing. It's mildly cringy, half by design, but that's about it.
All of these tech companies come up with cutesy terms for employees. "Googlers", "Plaids", "Metamates", "Splunkers", "Pinployees". It seems like a cheap way of tying workers' identities to The Company.
It's a cheap gesture used in an attempt to create a distinct "culture".
So in the context of a mass-termination, it really rubs me the wrong way to refer to these people as "Plaids". They're clearly not that, because you're sending them packing!
Lets get back to identifying our personnel with real terms. Employee, technician, associate, etc.
EDIT: NYTimes does a good job with this: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/technology/metamates-goog...