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The "escorting" strikes me as the worst part. I understand completely if the person is being fired under bad terms. But laid off? That just undermines everythin

The "escorting" strikes me as the worst part. I understand completely if the person is being fired under bad terms. But laid off? That just undermines everything: "Hey, Joe. You've done great work here, and you know that it's just the nature of the business that your unit simply can't be supported. It pains me so much to have to do this, and we hope you'll keep us in mind when things turn around: we'd hire you back in a second. Also, I don't entirely trust that you're decent enough to exit with dignity and not to go ape ** and destroy/vandalize/steal valuable company property. Good luck out there ... as soon as you leave the premises, that is."

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cube00 4y ago
By the sounds of this they just wanted to be as needlessly cruel as possible to strike fear into those left behind to work even harder. There are so many other ways to handle this that will retain the employee's dignity but still mitigate any risk they might kick off.
- VagueMag 4y ago
  For my recent layoff from a 100% remote role at a well known BigTech co, I was in the midst of a meeting and was abruptly signed out of my laptop and presented with a screen saying it had been frozen and prompting for a 6 digit passcode to unlock it. I had no idea what was going on and began calling IT support to get back in so I could let coworkers on my team know I was completely unable to do anything. They evidently hadn't been informed either as they actually gave me the passcode! I put two and two together when I got back in and was still locked out of everything, and a friend in a personal non-work Slack @'d me with the headline that my company was doing layoffs.
  - techbozo 4y ago
    that is completely nuts and unsurprising
    - ryandrake 4y ago
      There are so many better ways to do layoffs, you have to assume they pick the cruel ways on purpose. It's not like these companies are inventing layoffs and figuring out on their own how to do it.
  - xdfgh1112 4y ago
    Sounds like you are better off not working for that company.
    - VagueMag 4y ago
      I hated the job and was ready to start looking for a new one once annual bonuses were paid this month, and the severance package is more than my bonus would have been, so it may all work out for the better.
- NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
  >By the sounds of this they just wanted to be as needlessly cruel as possible to strike fear into those left behind to work even harder. It's as though people think that managers go behind closed doors and it's suddenly like the Death Star conference room.
  - emodendroket 4y ago
    You think it's implausible that some top-level brass think their employees have gotten a little bit too restive for their liking? Sometimes they're even not too circumspect to say it: https://www.wsj.com/articles/layoffs-labor-market-bosses-power-workplace-11675347655 https://www.wsj.com/articles/layoffs-labor-market-bosses-pow... > “This whole concept of working from anywhere went too far,” Mr. Ulbrich said. “I’m all into flexibility and all supportive that work and life has to find a flexible kind of partnership…but that doesn’t translate into, ‘Mondays and Fridays, I always work from home.’ ” > He added: “I think the recent trends, the layoffs, will help to bring a little bit of balance into that.” And frankly, people have come up with a lot more cruel things to do to other human beings than just dismissing them in a deliberately humiliating way.
sircastor 4y ago
The thing is, you never know how a person is going to react to this news. Some are dejected. Some angry. Some vengeful. All it takes is one bad actor to set the rule for the company forever. It’s optimistic that everyone would act rationally and in good faith. I wish it were that way. Incidentally I recall a coworker quitting quite colorfully blasting some music from his phone and loudly declaring goodbyes to people. Our head of security was following him around half-anxious, half-annoyed.
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cube00 4y ago

By the sounds of this they just wanted to be as needlessly cruel as possible to strike fear into those left behind to work even harder. There are so many other ways to handle this that will retain the employee's dignity but still mitigate any risk they might kick off.

VagueMag 4y ago
For my recent layoff from a 100% remote role at a well known BigTech co, I was in the midst of a meeting and was abruptly signed out of my laptop and presented with a screen saying it had been frozen and prompting for a 6 digit passcode to unlock it. I had no idea what was going on and began calling IT support to get back in so I could let coworkers on my team know I was completely unable to do anything. They evidently hadn't been informed either as they actually gave me the passcode! I put two and two together when I got back in and was still locked out of everything, and a friend in a personal non-work Slack @'d me with the headline that my company was doing layoffs.
- techbozo 4y ago
  that is completely nuts and unsurprising
  - ryandrake 4y ago
    There are so many better ways to do layoffs, you have to assume they pick the cruel ways on purpose. It's not like these companies are inventing layoffs and figuring out on their own how to do it.
- xdfgh1112 4y ago
  Sounds like you are better off not working for that company.
  - VagueMag 4y ago
    I hated the job and was ready to start looking for a new one once annual bonuses were paid this month, and the severance package is more than my bonus would have been, so it may all work out for the better.
NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
>By the sounds of this they just wanted to be as needlessly cruel as possible to strike fear into those left behind to work even harder. It's as though people think that managers go behind closed doors and it's suddenly like the Death Star conference room.
- emodendroket 4y ago
  You think it's implausible that some top-level brass think their employees have gotten a little bit too restive for their liking? Sometimes they're even not too circumspect to say it: https://www.wsj.com/articles/layoffs-labor-market-bosses-power-workplace-11675347655 https://www.wsj.com/articles/layoffs-labor-market-bosses-pow... > “This whole concept of working from anywhere went too far,” Mr. Ulbrich said. “I’m all into flexibility and all supportive that work and life has to find a flexible kind of partnership…but that doesn’t translate into, ‘Mondays and Fridays, I always work from home.’ ” > He added: “I think the recent trends, the layoffs, will help to bring a little bit of balance into that.” And frankly, people have come up with a lot more cruel things to do to other human beings than just dismissing them in a deliberately humiliating way.

sircastor 4y ago

The thing is, you never know how a person is going to react to this news. Some are dejected. Some angry. Some vengeful. All it takes is one bad actor to set the rule for the company forever. It’s optimistic that everyone would act rationally and in good faith. I wish it were that way. Incidentally I recall a coworker quitting quite colorfully blasting some music from his phone and loudly declaring goodbyes to people. Our head of security was following him around half-anxious, half-annoyed.

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