Layoffs are bad for a myriad of reasons. They are purely an accounting action, but they ignore that the line items represent people. Layoffs say that we will sa

Layoffs are bad for a myriad of reasons. They are purely an accounting action, but they ignore that the line items represent people. Layoffs say that we will sacrifice our employees when the company has poorly planned, because our people are only positive assets when we're trying to hire. Management and especially executives are the least affected by layoffs, yet it was their decision making that led to the layoffs in the first place. In fact, these people stand to gain from layoffs because they have heavy equity compensation and shareholders seem to froth at the mouth for layoffs. This idea that companies move from growth to profit and back and forth seems naïve at best. Yet, companies do indeed do this. So the executives who rode the past three years of insane stock growth, making a ton from equity and investments and hiring like madmen, now get to turn around and say "we're sorry, good luck paying your mortgage". The incentives are all wrong, as the very people who control the decisions that lead up to layoffs are both immune from the layoffs and tacitly benefit from them. Everyone and their dog knew this market clawback was coming, and it's been here for over a year already. You're telling me these supposedly brilliant executives couldn't have planned better? Lately, and I've seen it happen, after layoffs, the companies immediately start hiring again for the exact same positions they just laid off. Over time, they hire a large portion of the positions back. So, what was the point? The point was to appease stockholders in the short term.