2 ms·

When covid started and companies all over the world were laying people off (or furloughing them), I asked my manager if there were going to be layoffs at our co

When covid started and companies all over the world were laying people off (or furloughing them), I asked my manager if there were going to be layoffs at our company. He said, "I'm not allowed to say one way or the other." I assumed that the reason he wasn't allowed was because we were a public company and if something he said made it into the media, there would be legal implications, especially if the stock price was affected. My current company is saying, "Nope. No layoffs. We have plenty of money. We won't have to even think about layoffs for quite a while. Go back to work." Not a public company. Big difference.

ndrwdvvs 4y ago
It is very possible for a private company to say "everything is fine, no one is getting laid off" and then have layoffs happen weeks later. I've seen it happen. Be skeptical and have a backup plan.
time_to_smile 4y ago
"Nope. No layoffs" is to companies about to do layoffs as "It's against the constitution to lie about being a police officer" is to undercover cops doing drug busts. Companies generally try very hard to limit the warnings that layoffs will be coming. Every time I've seen layoffs it's a week or so after the "macro is tough, but we're still strong" meeting. Ultimately this is the hardest part of layoffs: the uncertainty and lack of control. You can't really know layoffs are coming until the day you get that email, and you also can't really do anything to save your job no matter how much you would like to believe you can. It's a stressful season in tech to be sure.