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Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

matduggan.com

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Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#21

Post by CuriouslyC »

karaterobot wrote: post #16

> Imagine you had a dog... Imagine that instead of a dog, it's an adult who makes their own choices and gets paid money, and who signed a contract where the terms of employment were spelled out very clearly..

And imagine you told that dog how much you loved it and how important it was to you, but only paid attention to it when it was misbehaving, fed it recalled Chinese dog food and avoided taking it to the vet, then decided to put it down the second it needed any expensive care. All the while telling your friends what a dog lover you are, and what a great relationship you have with your dog.

Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#22

Post by dougmwne »

mattikus wrote: post #14
bradleyjg wrote: post #6

This place isn't your home, these people aren't your friends and your executive leadership would run you over with their cars if you stood between them and revenue growth. Your relationship to work changes forever. You will never again believe that you are "critical" to the company or that the company is interested in you as a person. This has always always been the case. Grow up.

I think you're being a bit uncharitable and jaded here. For many, events like these are actually the catalyst that causes one to "grow up", which is what the author is conveying.

Absolutely. Nearly everyone I know left college doe-eyed and ready to dedicate a piece of their soul to their shiny new job. Everyone learned otherwise one person at a time. Some worked for “we’re all a family” companies and were able to remain innocent ignorants till the day the axe fell.

Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#23

Post by politician »

vikingerik wrote: post #12
beebmam wrote: post #4

I think it's a huge mistake. The great labor shortage is just beginning. You can thank the retiring boomers for that. (And I hope they enjoy their retirement!)

There is no such thing as a labor shortage. There are just insufficient wages.

This statement is missing qualifiers.

Consider the extreme counter-example: A small village of a dozen individuals sitting a top a mountain of gold is unlikely to be able to operate an industrial scale gold mining operation.

There can be too few people to do certain work. Nuclear plant operators. Ordinance disposal experts. Electricians in my area...

Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#24

Post by brookst »

oconnore wrote: post #17

This is incredibly dumb. > The downsized companies, however, were outperformed consistently by the nondownsized ones during the initial two years following the downsizing. Can you think of any confounding factors in this analysis? How do you control for important factors like, say: whether the board is in enough financial trouble to downsize ?

What? Next you’re going to find fault in my analysis that proves CPR kills people, as evidenced by the number of people who die after receiving CPR compared to those who just have a normal day.

Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#25

Post by bradleyjg »

mattikus wrote: post #14
bradleyjg wrote: post #6

This place isn't your home, these people aren't your friends and your executive leadership would run you over with their cars if you stood between them and revenue growth. Your relationship to work changes forever. You will never again believe that you are "critical" to the company or that the company is interested in you as a person. This has always always been the case. Grow up.

I think you're being a bit uncharitable and jaded here. For many, events like these are actually the catalyst that causes one to "grow up", which is what the author is conveying.

You know who was a bit uncharitable? The people saying “okay boomer” to the Bobs of the world when they kindly tried to share their experience.

Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#26

Post by wonks »

coliveira wrote: post #20

I think Amazon, Google, and Meta workers should band together and get funding to start competitors to these companies. If there were some smart investors, that would be a great way to start a new company.

I suppose if there were backers who would issue loans instead of investing in equity, the workers could form a cooperative. I don't think that would fully eliminate the risk of them getting fired (by each other), but perhaps it would be a start?

Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#27

Post by readthenotes1 »

If they don't work, it's probably because they are too late. Every company I've worked at has had a bunch of people who don't actually work.

One example: I was talking to someone at a social event and they was complaining that her company had laid off so many people they was doing the work of 3.

They then went on to say that they was running two fantasy football leagues.

I asked them what kind of computer they had at home and they looked at me confused and said "oh no, I don't have a computer at home. If I did then they would expect me to work some there too"

From that I realize that they (singular) was doing the work of three people and running two fantasy football leagues in their eight hour work day.

This may be exceptional, but with all the talk of quiet quitting, and all the other observations of people not working at work, I don't think it's all that rare.

Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#29

Post by tomnipotent »

oconnore wrote: post #17

This is incredibly dumb. > The downsized companies, however, were outperformed consistently by the nondownsized ones during the initial two years following the downsizing. Can you think of any confounding factors in this analysis? How do you control for important factors like, say: whether the board is in enough financial trouble to downsize ?

Don't forget the next bit, "by the third year, these differences became statistically nonsignificant". So the layoffs... worked?

Re: Layoffs Are Cruel and Don't Work

#30

Post by rayiner »

mattikus wrote: post #14
bradleyjg wrote: post #6

This place isn't your home, these people aren't your friends and your executive leadership would run you over with their cars if you stood between them and revenue growth. Your relationship to work changes forever. You will never again believe that you are "critical" to the company or that the company is interested in you as a person. This has always always been the case. Grow up.

I think you're being a bit uncharitable and jaded here. For many, events like these are actually the catalyst that causes one to "grow up", which is what the author is conveying.

Thats unfortunate because this is a lesson you should learn much earlier in life. Like, how do you get to adulthood not knowing how the world works?
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