4 ms·

I don’t even think this about over hiring. That was certainly part of it in the beginning, but why wouldn’t you fire people now? The tech labor market is very s

by rcme 4y ago

I don’t even think this about over hiring. That was certainly part of it in the beginning, but why wouldn’t you fire people now? The tech labor market is very soft. You could rehire people a few months down the line for similar roles at a fraction of the price.

yarg 4y ago
> but why wouldn’t you fire people now? Trust. If you want people to want to work for you, you shouldn't be seen getting rid of people for no reason at all.
- rcme 4y ago
  This isn’t the 60s. Trust hasn’t been part of the employment equation for a long time.
  - aaomidi 4y ago
    It was in this sector. It’s now lost in this sector.
  - Brian_K_White 4y ago
    It hasn't, but this is a bad thing and it's right to call it a bad thing.
  - lenkite 4y ago
    But the statements made by the CEO's always talk about employee trust and being a family.
  - janosd 4y ago
    At Red Hat, it was. The culture was such, for the most part, that you never had to be worried about getting fired unless you really badly messed up. People felt safe. Many said that Red Hat would never do layoffs. There were many boomerangs who went to other companies and came back for the culture. I guess that feeling of safety is now gone. Source: I just left Red Hat unrelated to the layoffs.
YZF 4y ago
It's likely either over-hiring or a "bubble" business with poor fundamentals/prospects. In my estimate it takes an intermediate software engineer "new hire" about 6 months to get to a point where they can add measurable value and it probably takes 2-3 years to maximize their experience/contribution ratio. From then they can still ramp up but it's a longer curve. Rehiring some random person, if you already had a good person in the role that you're firing, is just plain dumb. Likely most CEOs do not understand that. On the other hand, keeping a person that's not a good fit is just as plain dumb. That's true regardless of the state of the economy but doubly true when times are hard. A typical ROI on new initiatives in tech can be anywhere from 2 to 5 to even 10 years. I.e. companies that are going to be successful some years from today need to be working on that event horizon. Companies that have laid off less or no or "token" amount of people, while maybe also still hiring (there are companies like that), are likely those that think like that.
kar5pt 4y ago
The cost of re-hiring someone will probably outweigh the benefits of saving a few months salary.

by rcme 4y ago

yarg 4y ago

> but why wouldn’t you fire people now? Trust. If you want people to want to work for you, you shouldn't be seen getting rid of people for no reason at all.

rcme 4y ago
This isn’t the 60s. Trust hasn’t been part of the employment equation for a long time.
- aaomidi 4y ago
  It was in this sector. It’s now lost in this sector.
- Brian_K_White 4y ago
  It hasn't, but this is a bad thing and it's right to call it a bad thing.
- lenkite 4y ago
  But the statements made by the CEO's always talk about employee trust and being a family.
- janosd 4y ago
  At Red Hat, it was. The culture was such, for the most part, that you never had to be worried about getting fired unless you really badly messed up. People felt safe. Many said that Red Hat would never do layoffs. There were many boomerangs who went to other companies and came back for the culture. I guess that feeling of safety is now gone. Source: I just left Red Hat unrelated to the layoffs.

YZF 4y ago

It's likely either over-hiring or a "bubble" business with poor fundamentals/prospects. In my estimate it takes an intermediate software engineer "new hire" about 6 months to get to a point where they can add measurable value and it probably takes 2-3 years to maximize their experience/contribution ratio. From then they can still ramp up but it's a longer curve. Rehiring some random person, if you already had a good person in the role that you're firing, is just plain dumb. Likely most CEOs do not understand that. On the other hand, keeping a person that's not a good fit is just as plain dumb. That's true regardless of the state of the economy but doubly true when times are hard. A typical ROI on new initiatives in tech can be anywhere from 2 to 5 to even 10 years. I.e. companies that are going to be successful some years from today need to be working on that event horizon. Companies that have laid off less or no or "token" amount of people, while maybe also still hiring (there are companies like that), are likely those that think like that.

kar5pt 4y ago

The cost of re-hiring someone will probably outweigh the benefits of saving a few months salary.