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Would you rather have layoffs at your company or have your company go out of business due to excessive labor costs? Should poor performers be immune from layof

Would you rather have layoffs at your company or have your company go out of business due to excessive labor costs? Should poor performers be immune from layoffs? When is a layoff justifiable? I'm free to leave my job at any time, so why shouldn't my employer be free to leave me?

__loam 2y ago
Should the most profitable companies on the planet be free to lay off good performers in a country where healthcare is tied to employment? You can invent strawmen like poor performers and failing companies all day long but the facts differ quite a lot from your perception.
- gnarlynarwhal42 2y ago
  What motivation would a company have to lay off a good performer? Seems counter-productive, but I'm not a CEO
brian-armstrong 2y ago
> Would you rather have layoffs at your company or have your company go out of business due to excessive labor costs? I invite you to read earnings reports from any of the FAANG companies in the last 5 years. Go ahead, I'll wait.
- daedrdev 2y ago
  Most people actually don't work at immensely profitable FAANG companies.
  - __loam 2y ago
    And yet they're so massive that them all doing layoffs at the same time despite that profitability has a huge impact on the labor market of the while industry.
    - daedrdev 2y ago
      If someone produces less effort than they cost, it's reasonable to fire them even if the organization as a whole is profitable. That's probably not what the FAANG companies did, but layoffs are not unjustifiable for profitable companies.
      - __loam 2y ago
        We're not talking about performance terminations here.
ornornor 2y ago
Your employer doesn’t need you to buy food or pay for a roof over their head. You need your employer to stay fed and housed. There is a lot more downside for you than your employer, thus a massive power asymmetry. The only way to restore the balance is solidarity between workers and it’s usually a union (or a guild)
- WJW 2y ago
  Get some financial discipline and arrange an emergency fund covering at least 6 months of expenses. It's amazing how much less leverage your employer is able to exert if you can make good on a threat of leaving.
  - ornornor 2y ago
    Or you could have leverage from a union and not have to seriously consider quitting every time you need something from your employer.
  - goodpoint 2y ago
    > It's amazing how much less leverage your employer is able to exert if you can make good on a threat of leaving. Look how well it worked for the mass layoffs.
- nosefurhairdo 2y ago
  I don't need my employer for that either, because they're competing for my labor in a market with many other employers. It would be extremely costly to replace me because of the critical role I have on a highly profitable product. If anything, I'm the one with leverage, which I use every year to request more pay, fancier titles, and larger responsibilities. Realistically, if I were laid off today I'd likely land a better paying job than this one. I choose to stay because I like my boss, my work, and my coworkers. If circumstances changed such that it made sense to lay me off then I should be laid off. Why should anyone be obligated to pay my salary if I'm not offering commensurate value?
  - ornornor 2y ago

__loam 2y ago

Should the most profitable companies on the planet be free to lay off good performers in a country where healthcare is tied to employment? You can invent strawmen like poor performers and failing companies all day long but the facts differ quite a lot from your perception.

gnarlynarwhal42 2y ago
What motivation would a company have to lay off a good performer? Seems counter-productive, but I'm not a CEO

brian-armstrong 2y ago

> Would you rather have layoffs at your company or have your company go out of business due to excessive labor costs? I invite you to read earnings reports from any of the FAANG companies in the last 5 years. Go ahead, I'll wait.

daedrdev 2y ago
Most people actually don't work at immensely profitable FAANG companies.
- __loam 2y ago
  And yet they're so massive that them all doing layoffs at the same time despite that profitability has a huge impact on the labor market of the while industry.
  - daedrdev 2y ago
    If someone produces less effort than they cost, it's reasonable to fire them even if the organization as a whole is profitable. That's probably not what the FAANG companies did, but layoffs are not unjustifiable for profitable companies.
    - __loam 2y ago
      We're not talking about performance terminations here.

ornornor 2y ago

Your employer doesn’t need you to buy food or pay for a roof over their head. You need your employer to stay fed and housed. There is a lot more downside for you than your employer, thus a massive power asymmetry. The only way to restore the balance is solidarity between workers and it’s usually a union (or a guild)

WJW 2y ago
Get some financial discipline and arrange an emergency fund covering at least 6 months of expenses. It's amazing how much less leverage your employer is able to exert if you can make good on a threat of leaving.
- ornornor 2y ago
  Or you could have leverage from a union and not have to seriously consider quitting every time you need something from your employer.
- goodpoint 2y ago
  > It's amazing how much less leverage your employer is able to exert if you can make good on a threat of leaving. Look how well it worked for the mass layoffs.
nosefurhairdo 2y ago
I don't need my employer for that either, because they're competing for my labor in a market with many other employers. It would be extremely costly to replace me because of the critical role I have on a highly profitable product. If anything, I'm the one with leverage, which I use every year to request more pay, fancier titles, and larger responsibilities. Realistically, if I were laid off today I'd likely land a better paying job than this one. I choose to stay because I like my boss, my work, and my coworkers. If circumstances changed such that it made sense to lay me off then I should be laid off. Why should anyone be obligated to pay my salary if I'm not offering commensurate value?
- ornornor 2y ago