6 ms·
Is it inconceivable that layoffs are the right choice for a business?
by ajkjk 4y ago
Is it inconceivable that layoffs are the right choice for a business?
- mcv 4y agoIt's not inconceivable, but it's weird that everybody is doing it at the same time even when the company is perfectly healthy.
- aliqot 4y agopatagonia see, patagonia do. I blame the boards.
- enriquec 4y agoIs it weird at all given the market, inflation, and debt?
- bennyelv 4y agoIt could be because they're all planning for market conditions predicted by the same forecasts. Also if your strategy is to hire as many engineers as you can possibly afford so that you can keep up with or beat the competition, then if the competition starts downsizing it means you can do the same, and maybe you see an economic contraction as a bigger risk. Conjecture of course, but plausible I think.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoDo not play to where the ball is, play to where the ball will (might) be.
- hallarempt 4y agoYes. They never are. A recent study investigated this and neither stock price nor productivity nor profitability improved. All mass layoffs do is crater employee morale. And yes, it's a "others are jumping into the lake with their clothes on, let's get our brooks brothers shirts wet, too" thing without any rational cogitation involved..
- phumberdroz 4y agoDo you have a link to that study would like to share that with someone.
- rozim 4y agoThis may lead you to it: https://news.stanford.edu/2022/12/05/explains-recent-tech-layoffs-worried/ https://news.stanford.edu/2022/12/05/explains-recent-tech-la...
- im_down_w_otp 4y agoWhat should a business do that has more people on payroll than their revenues can support?
- kdazzle 4y agoHiring freeze, for one. Then anyone that leaves won’t be replaced and headcount will (presumably) go down trauma free.
- coredog64 4y agoIf everyone does a hiring freeze instead of layoffs, there’s no attrition other than the PIP kind. Ask an Amazonian what that does for morale.
- bombcar 4y agoI think the argument is that you shouldn't get into the position where mass layoffs are the solution, just like you shouldn't get into the position where gastric bypass surgery is your only option. Something like each team is maintaining themselves at a proper rate, laying off inside the team as necessary. But even then you will at times have to fire entire teams, but those aren't really a "mass layoff" so much as "we're not doing X anymore".
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- m_eiman 4y agoIt could be, but that all the big companies come to the same conclusion at the same time is unlikely to be a coincidence.
- xeromal 4y agoCoincidence = market conditions in this case probably.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- CydeWeys 4y agoSome businesses, sure. Some of the big tech companies that are doing layoffs though (like Google) are just fine financially, and are losing two decades' worth of employee morale and goodwill for a temporary stock bump that is already dissipating. Memegen is a firestorm, and everyone is now talking about the importance of being on safe projects and staying away from experimental/unproven ones. That's going to hurt Google's prospects of launching anything else revolutionary even further.
- britzkopf 4y agoWhat is memegen?
- aleksiy123 4y agoA google internal meme generating+sharing page.
- ajaimk 4y agoA Google Monopoly that needs to be broken up and opened to the public (mainly, xooglers).
- Wonnk13 4y agolol right. I want to rollover my Mcmillen score just like a 401k
- CSMastermind 4y ago> Mcmillen score I'm unfamiliar with this term and a quick search didn't produce any meaningful results. What is it?
- kccqzy 4y agoThe meme version of h-index. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index
- marcosdumay 4y agoIf you are almost surely going out of business, have some revenue but no good option for reducing your costs, yes a mass layoff has a higher chance to save you than doing nothing. If you had a healthy business and do a mass layoff, you don't have a healthy business anymore.