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Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

reuters.com

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Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#311

Post by im3w1l »

tikhonj wrote: post #121
anonporridge wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mass layoffs give you the opportunity to quickly purge poor performers without as much paperwork. It's advantageous to have regular rolling layoffs because of this if you can justify them by economic conditions. There's also an effect of wanting to do smaller, pulsating layoffs over the course of many months or even years rather than one massive layoff of the size you actually need, because ultimately no one knows ex…

> Mass layoffs give you the opportunity to quickly purge poor performers without as much paperwork. It's advantageous to have regular rolling layoffs because of this if you can justify them by economic conditions. I've heard people say this, but it seems contrary to how layoffs are run in practice: • entire teams or divisions are often laid off with no eye towards individual employees' tenure, experience or skills •…

I have an alternative theory. In bad times consumers no longer want to pay for a cherry on top. So you go back to basics and lay off the people putting it there.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#312

Post by ReflectedImage »

adam_arthur wrote: post #196
pwinnski wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is "obviously" based on... no communication whatsoever from the company yet. Another comment of yours says "quite obvious" about advertising, which doesn't seem to be an industry segment in which you work. It seems your observations are right in line with Twitter's new owner, to whom everything that's happened over the last few months has also been "obvious," and mostly wrong.

Yes, Elon who made Tesla and SpaceX some of the largest companies in the world in just a few years, and likely many more over the next two decades is a totally incompetent buffoon. I’d rather take his side than the small minded and intellectually weak detractors. Just because things tend to be a certain way, doesn’t make it optimal or right. Evidence, all of history where bad practices were pervasive and common and l…

"Elon who made Tesla and SpaceX some of the largest companies in the world in just a few years,"

What in earth are you talking about? He brought his way into those companies. I think you are confusing Elon Musk the fictional PR character who exists only in paid press releases with Elon Musk.

Elon Musk's success was being the CEO of a slimy payment processor.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#313

Post by sleepybrett »

foogazi wrote: post #94
throwawaysleep wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It boggles my mind that people will work hard for an employer. You care about you less than a used napkin.

We don’t do it expecting love in return - we get a paycheck every two weeks

Lol, EVERY last company I've worked for talks about how we are their 'family'. When layoffs come it looks a whole lot different. They talk family when they are trying to get a few more off the book hours out of you.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#314

Post by citrus1330 »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #102
foogazi wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don’t do it expecting love in return - we get a paycheck every two weeks

I get my paycheque for showing up. For dedicated work rather than mediocrity, I need extra.

It doesn't cost you anything to do your best work

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#315

Post by s1artibartfast »

KerrAvon wrote: post #270
tensor wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, it means that they didn't forsee the economy going down to the extent it has. Corporate finances work like any large investment company. How much cash do you have on hand, how much is it earning per year, what is your revenue. If you suddenly are getting 10% less from investments and possibly less from revenue due to a severe economic downturn, then you need to save 10% in costs somewhere, and for tech companies…

There's no recession, though. There may be one this year, but it didn't exist before all of these layoffs. It may not be a conspiracy, but it seems questionable to believe these companies are not willing a recession into existence through, charitably, pessimism.

I think it is less pessimism and more realism. The fed clearly indicated that it will raise rates until the market cools

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#316

Post by Patrol8394 »

Granted that there are definitely people there resting and vesting and not contributing much. I get it. This still does not explain why all these big tech companies went on hiring spree when clearly they did not need that many people. And now they all: ops sorry, we did not know ...

I would like to see top managers bonuses/refreshes and so on trimmed and maybe fired as well.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#317

Post by spacemadness »

anonporridge wrote: post #24
Xeoncross wrote: post #4

I'm wondering what data really drives the back-and-forth at big tech. We've seen google, amazon, microsoft, meta, etc.. do hiring freezes, then layoffs. Hiring freeze, then back open, or layoffs then more layoffs later. I would expect a longer term plan than just looking forward or backwards one quarter which seems like what has been happening the last year. I would assume they had better information and insights tha…

Mass layoffs give you the opportunity to quickly purge poor performers without as much paperwork. It's advantageous to have regular rolling layoffs because of this if you can justify them by economic conditions. There's also an effect of wanting to do smaller, pulsating layoffs over the course of many months or even years rather than one massive layoff of the size you actually need, because ultimately no one knows ex…

Why are we spreading the “poor performers are the ones let go” trope that hurts anyone laid off? That’s a very dangerous assumption to be spreading around blindly.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#318

Post by trgn »

throwaway29812 wrote: post #159
deltree7 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you keep your Uber drivers, Landscapers and Cleaning Ladies on retainers because you have so much cash in your brokerage/bank account

This is..not a bad idea? I know several people that kept paying their cleaning people during COVID despite them not being able to come, because they were remote workers and could easily afford it.

It's called noblesse oblige. People with means in their daily lives constantly make financially unsound decisions out of a sense of duty and responsibility.

That microsoft is cutthroat here, sure, it is the nature of transactional corporate relations, but it would be a sad, ugly world if individuals internalized this same dehumanizing ethos in their personal dealings.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#319

Post by heleninboodler »

mgkimsal wrote: post #34

11,000 people - let's say an average loaded cost of $250k/yr. That's... ~$3b/yr these folks cost MSFT. Granted, it's per year, but ... keeping these people on for another 3 years would cost ~$10b. MSFT currently have $100b cash on hand. It's gotta be a little... frustrating to get be part of a 5% cut when there's so much free cash sitting around. I know, it's a narrow view of corporate finance, and I don't have the '…

Re: the "loaded cost", back when I worked for MSFT in the early 2000's, the rule of thumb for management was $250k per person total cost. This is when $125k was considered a pretty good SDE salary. So I'd double your $3b.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 11k employees

#320

Post by tr81 »

tikhonj wrote: post #121
anonporridge wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mass layoffs give you the opportunity to quickly purge poor performers without as much paperwork. It's advantageous to have regular rolling layoffs because of this if you can justify them by economic conditions. There's also an effect of wanting to do smaller, pulsating layoffs over the course of many months or even years rather than one massive layoff of the size you actually need, because ultimately no one knows ex…

> Mass layoffs give you the opportunity to quickly purge poor performers without as much paperwork. It's advantageous to have regular rolling layoffs because of this if you can justify them by economic conditions. I've heard people say this, but it seems contrary to how layoffs are run in practice: • entire teams or divisions are often laid off with no eye towards individual employees' tenure, experience or skills •…

> Mass layoffs give you the opportunity to quickly purge poor performers without as much paperwork. It's advantageous to have regular rolling layoffs because of this if you can justify them by economic conditions.

Yeah, unfortunately, this is believed by so many low level employees that it hurts their confidence, if they ever are part of layoffs. I wish organizations really educated employees how layoffs work.

I was part of layoffs in 2008 in which my whole department was eliminated, including managers and their managers. The developers who were hurt the most, were the smartest ones who could not believe that C-level executives didn't see their contributions. Their egos were bruised and some even switched from development to other fields.

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