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The last few years have been very capital-rich and interest-low. In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off. If you

The last few years have been very capital-rich and interest-low. In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off. If you don't lay people off in the bad times you can't hire them in the good times. Disney is evil for many, many reasons, but laying off three percent of their workforce when interest rates go through the roof and they're in a cold war with a lunatic governor is not one of them.

yieldcrv 4y ago
Dont need the company controlled public servants to run their fiefdom anymore
snozolli 4y ago
In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off. This sort of MBA-logic, algorithmic approach to business is why American corporate life is so terrible. Let's see some vision and leadership for a change. Instead, we get endless cycles of resume-padding for management and scapegoating for the people creating the business value.
- bhhaskin 4y ago
  It's pretty simple math. Vision and leadership doesn't alter the reality. If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it.
  - Pulcinella 4y ago
    If it’s simple math then why hasn’t e.g. Apple mass fired people?
    - bhhaskin 4y ago
      They have been laying people off. Just slowly and have managed to keep it out of the news. Lots of contractors.
    - lastofthemojito 4y ago
      This has been discussed a ton. They didn't grow as quickly (overhire) over the past few years as many of the other tech companies. See: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/01/22/apple-avoiding-layoffs https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/01/22/apple-avoiding-... https://fortune.com/2023/02/10/apple-avoided-tech-layoff-rush-google-amazon-key-decision-hiring/ https://fortune.com/2023/02/10/apple-avoided-tech-layoff-rus... https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/01/27/how-apple-has-steered-clear-of-layoffs-amidst-big-tech-job-cuts/?sh=32cd1d2eba96 https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/01/27/how-apple-... https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/apple-had-slower-headcount-growth-than-tech-peers-no-layoffs-yet.html https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/apple-had-slower-headcount-g... ...
      - juve1996 4y ago
        Which really illustrates the point - smart, sustainable business model, vs the pump and dump.
  - akersten 4y ago
    > If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it. One economist says to the other, "look, there's $20 on the ground!" The first replies, "nonsense, if there were, someone would have picked it up already!"
  - runesofdoom 4y ago
    >If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it. Only if it involved short-term profit for those making the decisions on how to do it. Which is the problem in the first place.
JKCalhoun 4y ago
> In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off. If you don't lay people off in the bad times you can't hire them in the good times. Imagine if it were reversed. In that environment you strike and demand higher wages. If you don't demand better wages in good times you won't have a decent salary in bad times.
jzb 4y ago
This attitude needs to stop. We have normalized treating people like machines that can just be turned off and on at a whim. Sometimes a layoff is necessary, but we have gotten to a point where it’s just a normalized no foul action that actually raises stock prices instead of being seen as a failure of leadership. Maybe Disney couldn’t prevent these layoffs. I don’t really think that their current struggle with DeSantis is what’s behind this. For the record, they had a profitable year last year ($28 billion profit), and the year before that. People keep talking about layoffs like they are no big deal and people just have a bad week or two and then have another job and everything is just fine. We’re talking about a country where people’s healthcare is tied to their employer. Where many people are living paycheck to paycheck or don’t have savings enough to whether a prolonged unemployment. People really need to stop acting like layoffs are no big thing and we should all just accept them without complaint as seasonal inconveniences.
- fnimick 4y ago
  > This attitude needs to stop. We have normalized treating people like machines that can just be turned off and on at a whim. Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of all the money that just got made by treating employees as disposable. Any profit-driven company would literally feed its employees into a meat grinder if it were not illegal and it made the stock price or valuation go up. "Ethical" concerns that don't increase profit might not as well exist.
  - themitigating 4y ago
    You're ignoring that people may be able to get other jobs while employed so treating people well is a part of it.
  - jzb 4y ago
    "Any profit-driven company would literally feed its employees into a meat grinder if it were not illegal and it made the stock price or valuation go up." This is uncomfortably true, at least for too many companies. Unfortunately, though, our society lets them get away with it. Too many people are willing to just shrug and say "that's business" and act like there's simply no other way to be.

yieldcrv 4y ago

Dont need the company controlled public servants to run their fiefdom anymore

snozolli 4y ago

In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off. This sort of MBA-logic, algorithmic approach to business is why American corporate life is so terrible. Let's see some vision and leadership for a change. Instead, we get endless cycles of resume-padding for management and scapegoating for the people creating the business value.

bhhaskin 4y ago
It's pretty simple math. Vision and leadership doesn't alter the reality. If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it.
- Pulcinella 4y ago
  If it’s simple math then why hasn’t e.g. Apple mass fired people?
  - bhhaskin 4y ago
    They have been laying people off. Just slowly and have managed to keep it out of the news. Lots of contractors.
  - lastofthemojito 4y ago
    This has been discussed a ton. They didn't grow as quickly (overhire) over the past few years as many of the other tech companies. See: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/01/22/apple-avoiding-layoffs https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/01/22/apple-avoiding-... https://fortune.com/2023/02/10/apple-avoided-tech-layoff-rush-google-amazon-key-decision-hiring/ https://fortune.com/2023/02/10/apple-avoided-tech-layoff-rus... https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/01/27/how-apple-has-steered-clear-of-layoffs-amidst-big-tech-job-cuts/?sh=32cd1d2eba96 https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/01/27/how-apple-... https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/apple-had-slower-headcount-growth-than-tech-peers-no-layoffs-yet.html https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/apple-had-slower-headcount-g... ...
    - juve1996 4y ago
      Which really illustrates the point - smart, sustainable business model, vs the pump and dump.
- akersten 4y ago
  > If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it. One economist says to the other, "look, there's $20 on the ground!" The first replies, "nonsense, if there were, someone would have picked it up already!"
- runesofdoom 4y ago
  >If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it. Only if it involved short-term profit for those making the decisions on how to do it. Which is the problem in the first place.

JKCalhoun 4y ago

> In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off. If you don't lay people off in the bad times you can't hire them in the good times. Imagine if it were reversed. In that environment you strike and demand higher wages. If you don't demand better wages in good times you won't have a decent salary in bad times.

jzb 4y ago

This attitude needs to stop. We have normalized treating people like machines that can just be turned off and on at a whim. Sometimes a layoff is necessary, but we have gotten to a point where it’s just a normalized no foul action that actually raises stock prices instead of being seen as a failure of leadership. Maybe Disney couldn’t prevent these layoffs. I don’t really think that their current struggle with DeSantis is what’s behind this. For the record, they had a profitable year last year ($28 billion profit), and the year before that. People keep talking about layoffs like they are no big deal and people just have a bad week or two and then have another job and everything is just fine. We’re talking about a country where people’s healthcare is tied to their employer. Where many people are living paycheck to paycheck or don’t have savings enough to whether a prolonged unemployment. People really need to stop acting like layoffs are no big thing and we should all just accept them without complaint as seasonal inconveniences.

fnimick 4y ago
> This attitude needs to stop. We have normalized treating people like machines that can just be turned off and on at a whim. Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of all the money that just got made by treating employees as disposable. Any profit-driven company would literally feed its employees into a meat grinder if it were not illegal and it made the stock price or valuation go up. "Ethical" concerns that don't increase profit might not as well exist.
- themitigating 4y ago
  You're ignoring that people may be able to get other jobs while employed so treating people well is a part of it.
- jzb 4y ago
  "Any profit-driven company would literally feed its employees into a meat grinder if it were not illegal and it made the stock price or valuation go up." This is uncomfortably true, at least for too many companies. Unfortunately, though, our society lets them get away with it. Too many people are willing to just shrug and say "that's business" and act like there's simply no other way to be.