Merge layoffs

[Jonster]

What a load of nonsense. Habbo is a business not a ******* charity or fansite. People work there to make money not because they love Habbo, redundancy has been happening throughout the world in the past few years due to the economic downturn. What's this "Habbo Spirit" you speak of? There's absolutely no such thing as the Habbo Spirit, it's something you've just made up. The Sulake spirit is making money for their shareholders, like every single other business. You make it sound like they've broken laws and how it's so bad they want cheaper labour for their moderators? At the end of the day they need to make profits and without these lay-offs the company would no longer be able to survive. I seriously think you need to grow up writing crappy articles like that as if they're Oxfam or something.

Correct. I was actually about to post this myself and couldn't have put it better. These sort of things happen every day whether it be on a large or small scale and increasingly more so as the economy goes into a downturn. I think as it's a virtual platform people automatically overlook the costs behind running such a large scale company - hosting 15 million unique visitors each month isn't cheap, at all and the years of work from the hundreds of staff Sulake employ all results to costs. Look at it this way, previously Sulake may have flown out a representative for a meeting whereas now they probably hold meetings via video conference as its cheaper - its exactly the same concept as cutting staff and using cheaper labour.

Didn't Sulake announce their best financial quarter the other month?

A company's main priority should be the relationship between their customers. Hiring staff who can barely speak English really doesn't build that relationship for me. If the wage for a SG moderator is $5 USD, then are the moderators even fully qualified to be a moderator?

Plus Sulake are purely abusing the wage in SG, which I think is wrong.

No. A company's main priority should be to survive. Without survival you cannot have customers. Without customers you cannot have a relationship between your customers. How do you survive in an economic downturn where the average human has zero disposable money to spend? You cut your costs, which is exactly what Habbo have done, and I think rightfully so. And if you're going to make a statement out of Habbo announcing its best financial record to date please back it up with hard evidence, as when I read the article featured on their website I noticed this "The strong revenue growth, combined with operating model improvements and cost savings in the final quarter of 2009".

And please don't bring up this abusing of the wage in SG, otherwise please take off all your clothes, burn them and walk around naked for the rest of your life. And if you still think abusing the wage is wrong please get rid of your computer/mac, your TV, and your console - I could go on for hours. Cheap labour is a godsend to us all as without it you would be paying a hell of a lot more for your everyday items meaning you probably wouldn't have them.

[Jordy]

No. A company's main priority should be to survive. Without survival you cannot have customers. Without customers you cannot have a relationship between your customers. How do you survive in an economic downturn where the average human has zero disposable money to spend? You cut your costs, which is exactly what Habbo have done, and I think rightfully so. And if you're going to make a statement out of Habbo announcing its best financial record to date please back it up with hard evidence, as when I read the article featured on their website I noticed this "The strong revenue growth, combined with operating model improvements and cost savings in the final quarter of 2009".

And please don't bring up this abusing of the wage in SG, otherwise please take off all your clothes, burn them and walk around naked for the rest of your life. And if you still think abusing the wage is wrong please get rid of your computer/mac, your TV, and your console - I could go on for hours. Cheap labour is a godsend to us all as without it you would be paying a hell of a lot more for your everyday items meaning you probably wouldn't have them.

Completely agree with you there.

Didn't Sulake announce their best financial quarter the other month?

A company's main priority should be the relationship between their customers. Hiring staff who can barely speak English really doesn't build that relationship for me. If the wage for a SG moderator is $5 USD, then are the moderators even fully qualified to be a moderator?

Plus Sulake are purely abusing the wage in SG, which I think is wrong.

The main priority is to get make profit for their shareholders. I have no issues with the Singaporean's English. Call it what you like, abusing the wage or exploitation, it goes on everywhere. Everything is manufactured abroad (Mostly in China) because it's cheaper. Ring Microsoft or ring a bank and you'll find they're located in India, because it's cheaper. This is passed down to the consumer and we all pay less. At the end of the day, providing they're not being forced to work long hours etc, they're getting a job to feed their family, without foreign investment these countries would not progress. I know where I'd source my moderators from if I was running Sulake, wherever is cheapest providing they can follow instructions. I don't believe think they need to be "qualified" anyway, just an understanding of the rules and people skills is what Sulake require?

As for Sulake profits, I thought for the past year or so they've been making minuscule profits/breaking even, it'd be interesting to see some firm statistics on this but I've been under the impression things have been bad at Sulake since the economic downturn.

[qaxzsw]

If habbo don't make these essential cuts, then you won't have habbo to play, so you should stop moaning imo. Even when there were UK mods they didn't give a crap, so, not much of a change, just worse english.

[Okeanos]

just worse english.

How'd you work that out? English is the first language for nearly all Singaporeans.

[Blissa]

That was a really interesting read.

[Arolu]

Right, so this merge was just to cut expenses, then?
Honestly, Habbo has been ruined, quite frankly. I had no idea we've only got the Moderators from Singapore left...
I've met some Habbo's from Singapore and they are quite different so I'm guessing the Moderatros aren't gonna be that great...
So... What is going to happen to Habbo now? Probably plunge into an abyss...

[Lukeg92]

Habbo.com have made a new Habbo staff group.

http://www.habbo.com/groups/123056/id

According to the group page these are the main Habbo.com staff

Fozzie - Hotel Manager

SmoothCriminal - Hotel Manager

Puffin - Hotel Manager

Moiraine - Community Manager

0rca - Community Co-Ordinator

notMiceElf - Pixel Pusher

Tallespin - Player Support Guru

Inari - Community Assistant

[Yucca]

Habbo.com have made a new Habbo staff group.

http://www.habbo.com/groups/123056/id

According to the group page these are the main Habbo.com staff

Fozzie - Hotel Manager

SmoothCriminal - Hotel Manager

Puffin - Hotel Manager

Moiraine - Community Manager

0rca - Community Co-Ordinator

notMiceElf - Pixel Pusher

Tallespin - Player Support Guru

Inari - Community Assistant

Already thought that.. They keep a lot of staffs un-noticed. www.habbotimes.net/habboinfos/listen for the full list.

Where are Elkah, Yobbo, Samie, Doelee & some new staffs?

[Cosmic]

Habbo.com have made a new Habbo staff group.

http://www.habbo.com/groups/123056/id

According to the group page these are the main Habbo.com staff

Fozzie - Hotel Manager

SmoothCriminal - Hotel Manager

Puffin - Hotel Manager

Moiraine - Community Manager

0rca - Community Co-Ordinator

notMiceElf - Pixel Pusher

Tallespin - Player Support Guru

Inari - Community Assistant

Interesting. I'd love to know the difference between a Community Manager and a Community Co-ordintor, i.e. how different the two roles are.

[Yucca]

Interesting. I'd love to know the difference between a Community Manager and a Community Co-ordintor, i.e. how different the two roles are.

The Community Coordinator is responsible for implementing Sulake online community guidelines and policies locally for Habbo Denmark, regarding customer care, moderation and online safety. He/she is also responsible for training and managing the moderator and customer care
teams.

Community Manager
Responsibilities included:

- Managing moderation and customer service function with given budgets
- Implementing moderation and customer service policies from Sulake HQ
- Recruitment, training and management of moderation and customer service staff
- Maintaining FAQ knowledge base
- Local point of contact for external law enforcement agencies
- Developing compelling safety content for end users
- Analyse and communicate end user feedback to relevent HQ departments
- Guide and educate local team on community related issues