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Many top performers leave after layoffs. They know they can easily get work elsewhere and don't want to deal with the post-layoff chaos or job uncertainty. The
by clnq 4y ago
Many top performers leave after layoffs. They know they can easily get work elsewhere and don't want to deal with the post-layoff chaos or job uncertainty.
There are also many forces pulling them away from the company - headhunter pressure increases after layoffs, their fired friends are going to a set of companies (or starting their own) and asking them to come over, and the cynicism that spreads in companies after mass layoffs (where some people are always laid off unjustly, some promising projects are often spun down indiscriminately, some critical areas of code almost always become unmaintainable post layoffs, etc).
Layoffs never just get rid of the targeted people. They usually get rid of employee morale and top performers, too.
- ChuckNorris89 4y agoI never said layoffs were not unjustly, I said they're not random like people think but target a subset of employees that the company currently flagged as undesirable for whatever flawed metrics each company uses. >There are also many forces pulling them away from the company - headhunter pressure increases after layoffs, their fired friends are going to a set of companies If they're so many forces pulling them away form the company like headhunter or colleagues, why are we acting like the layoffs are a tragedy to happen to them? The way you phrased it sounds like a blessing.
- throwanem 4y agoThe argument is that layoffs tend to incur follow-on decisions to depart being made by people who were not laid off. I don't necessarily have an opinion about that - I've seen exoduses, but not (yet?) for that reason - but my inbox at least corroborates a sharp increase in the rate of headhunting lately.
- clnq 4y agoThe "tragedy of layoffs" is not that the top talent won't find other work. It's more about the people who will be unjustly affected. Those that are let go through no fault of their own, those whose morale and work satisfaction is destroyed, those who were hopeful for and dedicated to projects now being canned, those who will have visa uncertainty, those who have to go through the stress of a job change, and others put in similar circumstances. Top talent is not excluded from this. But they will find work.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago> It's more about the people who will be unjustly affected People are unjustly affected at work on a daily basis everywhere, especially outside of big tech. Unjustly affected big tech workers will easily find better options elsewhere. I don't get the tear shedding and pandemonium.
- infamia 4y agoJust because something bad happens frequently, it doesn't somehow less bad. If anything, the frequency makes it worse. Also, the Big Tech companies have to hire non-coding positions that will have a lot harder time finding a job than the tech workers. I would expect these non-tech workers got caught up in all of this as well.
- michaelt 4y ago> They know they can easily get work elsewhere and don't want to deal with the post-layoff chaos or job uncertainty. If your current employer is the only one doing layoffs, sure. But would you feel more secure leaving Facebook to join Netflix or Twitter or Amazon or Uber right now?
- clnq 4y agoNo, but those are not the only companies top talent is going to. I can see at least three streams of "top talent migration" after a layoff in my tech company that happened a few years back - other big tech (Fortune 500 and similar companies), start-ups (including own), outside of big tech (gaming, space, medical, civil infrastructure, etc). A lot of companies are hiring aggressively and don't plan on layoffs. From my anecdotal experience, the FAANG layoffs are a bit of a joke in some CEO circles. A lot of tech does not agree with what FAANG is doing.