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I feel like we are seeing cartel behavior with tech employment. I wouldn’t know how to prove such a thing, but I think it’s pretty clear that some collusion is

I feel like we are seeing cartel behavior with tech employment. I wouldn’t know how to prove such a thing, but I think it’s pretty clear that some collusion is going on.

bobleeswagger 4y ago
[flagged]
jimbob45 4y ago
This is what I find so frustrating. Every company running the same percentage of layoffs and bringing everyone back from WfH at once simply can't be a coincidence. How else can workers get their companies to negotiate with them as individual companies rather than cartel members but to unionize?
- crazygringo 4y ago
  It's not a coincidence but neither does it need to be collusion. It's just similar companies responding to the environment (market, covid, etc.) in a similar rational way. And a bit of a herd mentality too, which is human nature. But that doesn't require collusion, it's just board members reading headlines.
  - DanHulton 4y ago
    "Rational" is arguable. There are a lot of analyses that would indicate that layoffs hurt your company in the medium-to-long term, even if it props up your short-term prospects. There are plenty of companies still haven't done layoffs (Apple), or have even raised employee salary (Nintendo, Sega) to ensure that employees feel safe and continue to perform at high levels. If anything, it's irrational behaviour. Herd mentality, prioritizing the short-term, fear-based, etc.
  - steve-atx-7600 4y ago
    Just like after all the smart guys in suites read books like The World is Flat and decided most work should be immediately outsourced to India as a fool proof cost saving measure.
- none_to_remain 4y ago
  Coming back from pandemic emergency working arrangements can be explained by the end of that emergency.
Ancalagon 4y ago
It’d be pretty easy for the tech ceos to form a signal chat with one another. Even if that wasn’t happening, public announcements like this signal copycat behavior is fine.
voisin 4y ago
Or is it just that the same things are affecting many companies in the same industry?
tschellenbach 4y ago
I think this proves the opposite. Companies bid up salaries and perks to a level they can't actually sustain. Now that the stock markets are back to normal they can't afford this anymore and need to make cuts.
- mise_en_place 4y ago
  Exactly. This is just a symptom of belt tightening. A lot of money losing companies will have to cut benefits like remote/WFH and start laying off people. OTOH, if a company cannot offer WFH/remote now, then I'd say that's a strong signal of a money losing company that's in trouble. Hint: a lot more than you think, they just were able to coast on easy interest rates for so long. At any rate, the Fed will eventually inflate the trampoline below this falling economy. The economic pain will be too much to bear, especially given how vulnerable Biden is for re-election.
  - SauciestGNU 4y ago
    I don't understand why eliminating wfh would be a cost savings, isn't office real estate expensive and don't companies externalize costs into their remote employees?
  - tangjurine 4y ago
    Why is wfh costing the company money?
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    Remote shouldn't be considered a 'benefit'. It's not a gift to the employee to provide a much better work environment. Which doesn't even cost the company any money.
- oblio 4y ago
  What are you going on about? Google laid off employees while still making a net profit per employee of about 400k, more than they're paying employees on average.
thowaway7753gv 4y ago
UKG announced the same thing a couple days ago. The timing is certainly suspect.
twblalock 4y ago
The market is providing clear incentives and companies are responding: cut costs, roll back overhiring, improve per-employee productivity.

I feel like we are seeing cartel behavior with tech employment. I wouldn’t know how to prove such a thing, but I think it’s pretty clear that some collusion is going on.

bobleeswagger 4y ago

[flagged]

jimbob45 4y ago

This is what I find so frustrating. Every company running the same percentage of layoffs and bringing everyone back from WfH at once simply can't be a coincidence. How else can workers get their companies to negotiate with them as individual companies rather than cartel members but to unionize?

crazygringo 4y ago
It's not a coincidence but neither does it need to be collusion. It's just similar companies responding to the environment (market, covid, etc.) in a similar rational way. And a bit of a herd mentality too, which is human nature. But that doesn't require collusion, it's just board members reading headlines.
- DanHulton 4y ago
  "Rational" is arguable. There are a lot of analyses that would indicate that layoffs hurt your company in the medium-to-long term, even if it props up your short-term prospects. There are plenty of companies still haven't done layoffs (Apple), or have even raised employee salary (Nintendo, Sega) to ensure that employees feel safe and continue to perform at high levels. If anything, it's irrational behaviour. Herd mentality, prioritizing the short-term, fear-based, etc.
- steve-atx-7600 4y ago
  Just like after all the smart guys in suites read books like The World is Flat and decided most work should be immediately outsourced to India as a fool proof cost saving measure.
none_to_remain 4y ago
Coming back from pandemic emergency working arrangements can be explained by the end of that emergency.

Ancalagon 4y ago

It’d be pretty easy for the tech ceos to form a signal chat with one another. Even if that wasn’t happening, public announcements like this signal copycat behavior is fine.

voisin 4y ago

Or is it just that the same things are affecting many companies in the same industry?

tschellenbach 4y ago

I think this proves the opposite. Companies bid up salaries and perks to a level they can't actually sustain. Now that the stock markets are back to normal they can't afford this anymore and need to make cuts.

mise_en_place 4y ago
Exactly. This is just a symptom of belt tightening. A lot of money losing companies will have to cut benefits like remote/WFH and start laying off people. OTOH, if a company cannot offer WFH/remote now, then I'd say that's a strong signal of a money losing company that's in trouble. Hint: a lot more than you think, they just were able to coast on easy interest rates for so long. At any rate, the Fed will eventually inflate the trampoline below this falling economy. The economic pain will be too much to bear, especially given how vulnerable Biden is for re-election.
- SauciestGNU 4y ago
  I don't understand why eliminating wfh would be a cost savings, isn't office real estate expensive and don't companies externalize costs into their remote employees?
- tangjurine 4y ago
  Why is wfh costing the company money?
- wkat4242 4y ago
  Remote shouldn't be considered a 'benefit'. It's not a gift to the employee to provide a much better work environment. Which doesn't even cost the company any money.
oblio 4y ago
What are you going on about? Google laid off employees while still making a net profit per employee of about 400k, more than they're paying employees on average.

thowaway7753gv 4y ago

UKG announced the same thing a couple days ago. The timing is certainly suspect.

twblalock 4y ago

The market is providing clear incentives and companies are responding: cut costs, roll back overhiring, improve per-employee productivity.