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HN in 2018: "Why do you need X employees to do that? That's like a weekend project." HN in 2024: "Companies should not reduce their headcount."

jimbob45 3y ago
Layoffs ruin human lives. Suicides happen. Breakups happen, with and without kids. Homes are defaulted on. Depression is almost a certainty. If the choice is between layoffs and total company ruin, okay, they’re necessary. If the layoffs are because you don’t want to try fixing anything else with the company first, you ought to be the first one fired.
- avarun 3y ago
  Maybe in 1990s style layoffs with 2 weeks severance. Tech companies doing layoffs today are giving people 3-6-sometimes even 12 months of severance of benefits! If you can’t figure out a new job with that, it’s on you.
vineyardmike 3y ago
Companies shouldn’t overhire and also shouldn’t do layoffs. Why is this some hot take. In 2018 people were advocating against bloat. Now they’re advocating against poor treatment of employees. Both are valid. In 2018, people were right, and the price of bloat is being paid by employees now. Companies can start new products instead of laying people off. Companies constantly start new things, and can internally allocate resources. Google has open positions for hire right now; they just laid off 1K people.
tikhonj 3y ago
Those comments are totally consistent! If you hadn't hired X employees in the first place, you wouldn't be laying them off now. And, conversely, if you can afford to lay them off now, you could have afforded not to hire them earlier. Apart from avoiding layoffs, hiring less quickly also lets you be more intentional about quality and culture. How can you expect any real continuity in your culture if like 30%–50% of your engineers are new in any given year?
- paulddraper 3y ago
  So the hiring was the unwise action and layoffs are the wise correction.

jimbob45 3y ago

Layoffs ruin human lives. Suicides happen. Breakups happen, with and without kids. Homes are defaulted on. Depression is almost a certainty. If the choice is between layoffs and total company ruin, okay, they’re necessary. If the layoffs are because you don’t want to try fixing anything else with the company first, you ought to be the first one fired.

avarun 3y ago
Maybe in 1990s style layoffs with 2 weeks severance. Tech companies doing layoffs today are giving people 3-6-sometimes even 12 months of severance of benefits! If you can’t figure out a new job with that, it’s on you.

vineyardmike 3y ago

Companies shouldn’t overhire and also shouldn’t do layoffs. Why is this some hot take. In 2018 people were advocating against bloat. Now they’re advocating against poor treatment of employees. Both are valid. In 2018, people were right, and the price of bloat is being paid by employees now. Companies can start new products instead of laying people off. Companies constantly start new things, and can internally allocate resources. Google has open positions for hire right now; they just laid off 1K people.

tikhonj 3y ago

Those comments are totally consistent! If you hadn't hired X employees in the first place, you wouldn't be laying them off now. And, conversely, if you can afford to lay them off now, you could have afforded not to hire them earlier. Apart from avoiding layoffs, hiring less quickly also lets you be more intentional about quality and culture. How can you expect any real continuity in your culture if like 30%–50% of your engineers are new in any given year?

paulddraper 3y ago
So the hiring was the unwise action and layoffs are the wise correction.