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Hey this has been happening at my work! It definitely isn't a complete dumpster fire over here now, that knowledge and experience from those hundreds of people wasn't critical or anything, the people who are left are totally working well and not just scraping by under constant fear of being fired next, it's fine
They always underestimate the morale killer. They think HR sending out a few notes will smooth things over. Nope, that job security just hit the floor, people are scared. Productivity drops while everyone processes, people start wondering if they should look elsewhere, it takes years to rebuild from a big layoff like that
My (soon to be ex) company gets around the rebuild step by doing annual layoffs.
they are so clueless. half of my team got laid off on friday, and we got an email from our manager inviting us to attend a different team's standup in addition to our own so we could feel more "connected".
the only thing another standup is going to make me feel is fucking pissed off
maybe you just need a pizza party. There they can explain how laying off half your team was a good thing so they can buy another Audi
My employer had a slightly better reason to do layoffs, because our financial situation then was pretty bad and still is pretty bad. I don't mean "we got 30% profit instead of 31%!", but "we aren't making money and we have no money". Layoffs were more understandable than usual given the situation and circumstances.
And even in these conditions, I still think it was a terrible decision. Morale was ultra low after the layoffs, and the situation led to quite a few people who did survive to leave of their own volition for better opportunities. We lost talent in the layoffs, and then we lost talent in everyone who felt like they were on a sinking ship. Which, in turn, has led to even more people feeling like it's a sinking ship with the writing on the wall.
My management chain is completely gone. I directly report to an executive now, where previously there was my supervisor, his supervisor, his supervisor, and then the executive. Where there were perhaps 10-15 system engineers both in and outside my team, there are now like 3-4 of us thanks to layoffs and departures. And if one of these guys leave, I'm going to find a new job and put in my two weeks once I land one.
The silver lining is that my job security has never been better, because they've created a situation where they literally can't afford to lose me or my colleagues. We're all on critical projects, and at the point where a new person just wouldn't be helpful, because they don't have the proper time to learn and get caught up before we need these projects finished.
In short? Layoffs are a terrible decision, even when you're in terrible financial straits. You risk a death spiral that makes things even worse and worse.
Dude, just start looking. Don't wait for somebody else to leave, be that person.
If somebody else leaves, your workload will increase even more while you try to find a new job. Just take the initiative. And next time, be quicker about it too. Protect yourself.
I always jump ship after a layoff. They invariably ask you to do more work for the same price. Half the time at places I've worked the company goes under soon anyways.
You get a bigger raise with a new job than staying at the old job, and I assume it's even worse after layoffs. When I tell job interviewers "because layoffs", they can easily verify it and confirm I didn't just get fired for being an asshole.
My company built a big lab with expensive equipment and then laid off the person who was an expert in using all of it.
I'm sure that won't have any negative consequence. Please do not question the decisions of our enlightened leaders or you won't have pizza.
I honestly feel you shouldn't be able to declare money saved from layoffs as a good thing, shouldn't profit be a sign of growth but if you really could keep growing you'd still need that staff
It's not a good thing if you know what you're looking at. Of course, the average investor doesn't have a clue. Half the problem is that there's a lot that can't be conveyed in financial statements. I've worked for companies that I would never buy any stock in because it's like you get there and realize that they completely destroyed any chance at long term viability for some small short term gains. Even if they're profitable. Corporations that focus on building a high quality, sustainable business that aims to earn a modest profit are an exceptionally rare breed.
My company 😢
This shit sucks. Some Silicon Valley shit company bought ours and they're closing us down after only half a year. Feels so unfair. Our company was doing well while theirs is going down the shitter with huge loans and promising the moon but delivering fuck all. Silicon Valley culture is toxic shit
Typical Private Equity deal... The buyers take a massive loan in the name of the company they are buying then they use the sudden massive interest payments to explain the declining profits and the need to downsize. Then they find a way to squirrel out of the loans claiming the company sucked and let banks take remaining assets (or losses) and maybe resell the intellectual property to someone else right before that.
Well, this is because it's access to Money that determines power, not actual merit.
That's the purest Capitalism you can think of and you see it at such an extreme level in present day Tech Startup Culture because nowadays it's basically the Even Wilder Wild West Of Finance so it operates by the same principles of Finance - (I actually went from Investment Banking to Startups back in the UK a few years ago and for me it looked a lot like the Founder and Investor level culture of the latter was very similar to that in the wildest bits of the former). Back in the 90s Startups weren't quite like that, but nowadays it's different.
That kind of thing also operates at the people level: I've seen Startups with so-so ideas get jump-started with a couple of millions because mommy and daddy of a main founder are rich whilst ideas with a lot better legs to go places keep limping along unable to generate sufficient cash flow to takeoff or to get enough investment to do what's needed to generate more cash flow, until running out of founds.
What survives is either those with access to lots of no questions asked money upfront (which actually works because a well funded half-arsed idea can still triumph in the market over barelly funded good ideas) or those who manage to portray their stuff as paradygm-changing ("The next Google!!!") which why one sees incredible levels of bullshit in the Startup space and endless jumping on hype-trains (like, for example, anybody looking for funding now will be pitching "something-something-AI !!!")
Imagine how many brilliant innovations have been lost to the world because of this...
You certainly won’t have to rehire many of them in a week or two as your operations turn to shit.
Wait till they demand contractor rates!
Oh yes. The CEO said to my boss that they need to cut down on staff because it costs too much, meanwhile he takes a huge bonus every year. Makes sense...
Then on the other end, you have bosses who willingly took pay cut to save employees from lay offs such as Nintendo bosses Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto. They're far and wide among the bloody sea of cut throat and greedy executives.
Add in re-hiring those same employees at a lower rate or off-shoring to India to get 3x the head count for the same wage and that's basically what's going on.
3x times the headcount 9x times the lead times. Spend more for less!
Good God Almighty. If I worked on a construction job, you'd see a bunch of people trying to pound screws in with the head of a screwdriver. Meanwhile, I'm over here like, "No! What? What the hell are you doing?!Wait, did you just try to solder too boards together with a blow torch? Oh fuck. Now the building is on fire."
And of course, management is like, "Why is the building on fire?? Isn't this like the twelfth time the building has been on fire?"
Yes. Yes it is, because you geniuses fired all the guys who knew anything about construction and hired a bunch of people who were able to identify screwdrivers without asking them if they knew how to use one.
Now, if we were actually in construction, this would be completely ludicrous. But if you work in technology, it's considered a "good business decision" because it has a "positive impact on the bottom line". ..for about 5 minutes anyway.
You forgot to add ai to everything.
Pick the victims randomly
Even better, pick the highest-paid rank-and-file workers (which usually have the highest pay for a reason), so your entire workforce is made up of inexperienced juniors unfamiliar with the things they're working on, who have little to no reason to stay at the company for long. That always works out in the company's favor long-term.
Experiencing this now. They fired my manager/boss, who was the only engineer that had the license to sign off on a bunch of shit related to a bunch of our projects. Now i’m left picking up the pieces and working remotely with some guy hundreds of miles away that doesnt have direct access to our file systems. So fun!
I immediately distrust anyone wearing a suit, I've just realised.
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
— Maya Angelou
If shareholders and executives are demanding so much money, shouldn't they be the optimal target for cuts to maximize profitability of the business? 🤔
IMHO that's why co-ops tend to last longer.
All employees are replaceable by a series of sales pitches on what AI is about to do right around the corner. That will keep pumping the stock price right up until the impending massive crash.
"The economy is doing fine."
I saw this a few years ago and it has stuck with me.
"The economy isn't talking about me and you, it's referring to corporations and executives and shareholders and such."
The economy could be doing amazing and we have 50% unemployment.
The economy could also be doing terrible and we have 0% unemployment.
The economy could also be doing amazing and the workers don't make enough to survive.
It isn't measuring what many people seem to think it is. It isn't a measure of "how well the average person is doing" at all.
And remember that when they say shareholders, it's not a large number of people. There are a few people who want to make money pushing for the layoffs, and they know what the consequences are going to be.
"In, fire 30% of the workforce, new logo, boom! Out. You are now a fully trained management consultant."
Shareholders aren't the big issue. CEOs paying themselves hundreds of millions of dollars is.
Emphasis added since some seemed to not be reading all the words.
spoiler
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Yup the CEO, shareholders, and middle management goals are diametrically opposed to the workers.
The hell. Shareholders are vampires that suck the profits from a business that should go to employee compensation. All while demanding more.
I wish there were more coops that I could shop at.
That's a problem for the poors and whoever is holding the bag after I retire.
Well it's about time we set up a union for workers in IT in general.
[Verse 1] When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one For the Union makes us strong
[Chorus] Solidarity forever Solidarity forever Solidarity forever For the Union makes us strong
[Verse 2] Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might? Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight? For the union makes us strong
[Chorus] Solidarity forever Solidarity forever Solidarity forever For the Union makes us strong
[Verse 3] It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where they trade Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid Now we stand outcast and starving 'midst the wonders we have made But the union makes us strong
[Chorus] Solidarity forever Solidarity forever Solidarity forever For the Union makes us strong
[Verse 4] All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone We have laid the wide foundations, built it skyward stone by stone It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own While the union makes us strong
[Chorus] Solidarity forever Solidarity forever Solidarity forever For the Union makes us strong
[Verse 5] They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn We can break their haughty power gain our freedom when we learn That the Union makes us strong
[Chorus] Solidarity forever Solidarity forever Solidarity forever For the Union makes us strong
[Verse 6] In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold Greater than the might of armies magnified a thousandfold We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old For the Union makes us strong
[Chorus] Solidarity forever Solidarity forever Solidarity forever For the Union makes us stron
"Lean! Agile! Cost discipline!"
Too many people think the world belongs to those who dream, who imagine a better future..
It does not. It belongs to those who do the work that runs the world