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> ... individual performance is almost never a factor in actual layoffs They always are. High performers aren't getting let go, even if they are in department

> ... individual performance is almost never a factor in actual layoffs They always are. High performers aren't getting let go, even if they are in department being cut, they will be moved.

fvgvkujdfbllo 1y ago
Absolutely, not true. CTOs don’t care about productivity at IC level. I have seen plenty of high performers getting laid off with rest of their teams.
watwut 1y ago
They are let go. Frequently who gets fired geta decided from top or by consultants that dont know anything about people. They you have firings of whole sections. Aaaand people with highest salaries are let go to save more movey. Some of them are actually high performers. And then you have layoffs by managers who decides who stays based on printed code people presented ...
Retric 1y ago
A 20% cut across the entire company isn’t the only form of layoffs. When everyone at a factory is laid off individual performance means absolutely nothing. Sometimes a company decides a specific market it’s worth it and every single programmer in the company is let go. Sometimes companies decide everything making over X$ in a position isn’t worth keeping etc.
BeetleB 1y ago
> High performers aren't getting let go, even if they are in department being cut, they will be moved. Wishful thinking. I just survived (yet another) round of layoffs. They are desperate to bring headcount down. If a whole team is being cut, everyone goes. It's really a question of how flexible upper management is in the numbers they set out. If there's wiggle room - sure. They will try to find a place in an adjacent team. But if the whole department is getting slashed, there is no adjacent team.
Arainach 1y ago
This really isn't true. Take Microsoft, for instance - one of their recent layoffs eviscerated the Principal band including a number of high performers. I'm talking people I personally knew who had climbed the ladder rapidly, were directly working with multiple external partners driving tens of millions in revenue (that is, external partner has problem, threatens to pull spend on product, this employee is one of the first pulled in to engage and get it solved), with visibility all the way to the VP level and higher happy with their work and partner teams trying to poach them away - still laid off.
astura 1y ago
>High performers aren't getting let go, even if they are in department being cut, they will be moved. Dude, no. This is just wishful thinking. I've seen critical employees get laid off without any backup plan or even knowledge of what these employees do. When those critical tasks then don't get performed I've seen laid off employees be called and begged to come back because there's no one left who even knows how to perform those critical tasks. Layoffs rarely make sense. I've been though multiple rounds of: "Our administration costs are too high, layoff 20% of them." "Oh wait, admin work is not getting done. We need more admin staff, hire" "Our administration costs are too high, layoff 20% of them." Ad nauseam.

> ... individual performance is almost never a factor in actual layoffs They always are. High performers aren't getting let go, even if they are in department being cut, they will be moved.

fvgvkujdfbllo 1y ago

Absolutely, not true. CTOs don’t care about productivity at IC level. I have seen plenty of high performers getting laid off with rest of their teams.

watwut 1y ago

They are let go. Frequently who gets fired geta decided from top or by consultants that dont know anything about people. They you have firings of whole sections. Aaaand people with highest salaries are let go to save more movey. Some of them are actually high performers. And then you have layoffs by managers who decides who stays based on printed code people presented ...

Retric 1y ago

A 20% cut across the entire company isn’t the only form of layoffs. When everyone at a factory is laid off individual performance means absolutely nothing. Sometimes a company decides a specific market it’s worth it and every single programmer in the company is let go. Sometimes companies decide everything making over X$ in a position isn’t worth keeping etc.

BeetleB 1y ago

> High performers aren't getting let go, even if they are in department being cut, they will be moved. Wishful thinking. I just survived (yet another) round of layoffs. They are desperate to bring headcount down. If a whole team is being cut, everyone goes. It's really a question of how flexible upper management is in the numbers they set out. If there's wiggle room - sure. They will try to find a place in an adjacent team. But if the whole department is getting slashed, there is no adjacent team.

Arainach 1y ago

This really isn't true. Take Microsoft, for instance - one of their recent layoffs eviscerated the Principal band including a number of high performers. I'm talking people I personally knew who had climbed the ladder rapidly, were directly working with multiple external partners driving tens of millions in revenue (that is, external partner has problem, threatens to pull spend on product, this employee is one of the first pulled in to engage and get it solved), with visibility all the way to the VP level and higher happy with their work and partner teams trying to poach them away - still laid off.

astura 1y ago

>High performers aren't getting let go, even if they are in department being cut, they will be moved. Dude, no. This is just wishful thinking. I've seen critical employees get laid off without any backup plan or even knowledge of what these employees do. When those critical tasks then don't get performed I've seen laid off employees be called and begged to come back because there's no one left who even knows how to perform those critical tasks. Layoffs rarely make sense. I've been though multiple rounds of: "Our administration costs are too high, layoff 20% of them." "Oh wait, admin work is not getting done. We need more admin staff, hire" "Our administration costs are too high, layoff 20% of them." Ad nauseam.