> if companies reported dollars in and dollars out live to shareholders at least we would have an idea of how the company is doing in a general sense.
A former manager used to run his own company, it was a satellite internet company sometime in the 2000s, they were going into the negative, so they had a big TV in the office, showing everyday what was coming in, and how much they made vs how much they owed. They did it to motivate everyone to go back into the green. Really interesting approach. Might not work at larger companies, but in a small shop where everyone knows everyone, it makes sense.
Can motivate the employees to jump ship. Often time as an employee you are impacted dis proportionately on the downside than the upside.
Smart employees understand this dynamic. When leadership hides information - it always means its bad. The first thing I noticed when I had a bout of bad employers was that they claimed "we can't share financial information because of XYZ investor/legal reason."
Those startups all had major financial problems within 6 months to 2 years. Management has strong incentives to hide bad information from employees.
Most startups fail - it's almost definitional.
Trying to connect the dots like you are attempting to, is a foolish game.
ehh there is a common thread that when management becomes convinced either of falsehoods or that lying to employees is the best strategy, the business outcomes won't be the best either.
Yep, I've worked at two startups which started to really emphasise The Numbers in weekly all-hands meetings, and how we're all in it together to improve them, etc. Both of those jobs ended in redundancy.
Reporting sales numbers to employees on a regular interval (along with goals) is extremely common in private companies. Especially when employee bonuses are linked to those sales/goals.