2 ms·

The US is not a command economy and given the open nature of hiring and firing (few encumbrances) results in firms being able to hire quickly and fire quickly.

by mc32 4y ago

The US is not a command economy and given the open nature of hiring and firing (few encumbrances) results in firms being able to hire quickly and fire quickly. It allows for a more dynamic economy. Obviously this adds some uncertainty to affected parties (firms and labor). Individual contributors lose their source of income and firms may be less financially stable (may now have financial constraints) on the other hand many people who would have otherwise been unemployed and not benefitted from being a hire, got hired, gained experience and earned income. Firms got to try some things out they might not have otherwise. It looks to me the reporter of this piece is trying to ride an emotional wave for their own benefit and narrative. That said, why aren't journalists and journalism firing contributors and editors when they get stories completely wrong for years and are found to be in cahoots with the establishment to carry water for them?

roncesvalles 4y ago
>The US is not a command economy and given the open nature of hiring and firing (few encumbrances) results in firms being able to hire quickly and fire quickly. Really? My epiphanic assessment from working in corporate America is that the single biggest challenge for American capitalism is that it's very difficult to fire people. That is, there is much more organizational friction in making a decision to fire, than to make a decision to hire. Even in at-will states, big companies require months or even years of "paper trail" to fire a non-performant or harmful employee. Notably, Amazon's aggressive PIP system seems to be specifically designed from the ground up to counter this problem, and even they seem to be dialing down the aggressiveness because of bad PR.
- mc32 4y ago
  It's all relative. Relative to other developed economies employment laws are more flexible in the US. In China, interestingly, for private businesses it's relatively easy to fire employees. You get massive protests when an employer refuses owed backpay for people in mass layoffs.

by mc32 4y ago

roncesvalles 4y ago

>The US is not a command economy and given the open nature of hiring and firing (few encumbrances) results in firms being able to hire quickly and fire quickly. Really? My epiphanic assessment from working in corporate America is that the single biggest challenge for American capitalism is that it's very difficult to fire people. That is, there is much more organizational friction in making a decision to fire, than to make a decision to hire. Even in at-will states, big companies require months or even years of "paper trail" to fire a non-performant or harmful employee. Notably, Amazon's aggressive PIP system seems to be specifically designed from the ground up to counter this problem, and even they seem to be dialing down the aggressiveness because of bad PR.

mc32 4y ago
It's all relative. Relative to other developed economies employment laws are more flexible in the US. In China, interestingly, for private businesses it's relatively easy to fire employees. You get massive protests when an employer refuses owed backpay for people in mass layoffs.