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The Layoff

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Re: The Layoff

#31

Post by kgdiem »

vasco wrote: post #13

"We won't share a list of the affected employees because some of them might not want the information to be public" was the biggest bullshit I've heard recently - no fiction needed. Discovering that people you worked with for years have been laid off only because you randomly notice their slack is deactivated has to be one of 2024s gifts to humanity.

My previous job never told us who was laid off —- once I had a meeting with a woman later that day and I only realized after she didn’t show up.

I too found slack to be the layoff lookup tool.

Re: The Layoff

#32

Post by vaylian »

sokoloff wrote: post #29
forgotusername6 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's at least better than I've experienced: Manager at a standup "got some news. Unfortunately Bob has passed out" Confused looks. "What do you mean passed out?" "Oh I mean he's died" Horror from everyone there. No further information was ever given.

Personally, I think it’s not the company’s place to give out further information in this case, absent a request from Bob’s family.

I think the issue is rather that the manager tries to sugarcoat the fact that someone has died by using very abstract language.

Re: The Layoff

#33

Post by midasuni »

About a decade ago I was doing a lot of travel for work - 140 plus flights a year over 6 continents level.

I remember watching a film, “Up in the Air”, about a guy who was contest flying from airport to airport to lay people off because the boss was too much of a wimp to do it himself.

I guess even his job isn’t safe from AI.

Sure some will manage to hack with prompt injection attacks, and potentially get compensation, but those attacks will be fixed.

Re: The Layoff

#34

Post by midasuni »

vaylian wrote: post #32
sokoloff wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I think it’s not the company’s place to give out further information in this case, absent a request from Bob’s family.

I think the issue is rather that the manager tries to sugarcoat the fact that someone has died by using very abstract language.

Might have being going for “passed away”

Managers are people too and will have their own emotions they are dealing with.

Re: The Layoff

#35

Post by Arbortheus »

vasco wrote: post #13

"We won't share a list of the affected employees because some of them might not want the information to be public" was the biggest bullshit I've heard recently - no fiction needed. Discovering that people you worked with for years have been laid off only because you randomly notice their slack is deactivated has to be one of 2024s gifts to humanity.

Someone at my work created a secret bot that scrapes the outlook contacts list and diffs it from the previous day, each day. This way we get daily updates whenever a new person is onboarded or offboarded.

As employees we now have more clarity about the state of layoffs and hiring decisions that most of the management team does.

I suggest doing the same within your org if you can.

Re: The Layoff

#36

Post by factormeta »

midasuni wrote: post #27
KronisLV wrote: post #12

That was interesting. I'm reminded of the sci-fi story called "Manna" that I read a while ago, which explored a bit of a dystopian future, where advancements in technology eventually made a lot of people unemployed: https://marshallbrain.com/manna Actually, the Wiki page has more info on it, for those that don't have the time to read it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna_(novel) The story is from 2003, but hearing…

A choice of two dystopia - one where your brain is controlled by a computer, the other where you are locked in a room.

That is like traditions chicken farming vs free range chicken farming.

Keep in mind while free range chicken farming is better to market, it is also more messy.

https://thehensloft.com/free-range-chicken-pros-cons/

Re: The Layoff

#37

Post by vasco »

Arbortheus wrote: post #35
vasco wrote: post #13

"We won't share a list of the affected employees because some of them might not want the information to be public" was the biggest bullshit I've heard recently - no fiction needed. Discovering that people you worked with for years have been laid off only because you randomly notice their slack is deactivated has to be one of 2024s gifts to humanity.

Someone at my work created a secret bot that scrapes the outlook contacts list and diffs it from the previous day, each day. This way we get daily updates whenever a new person is onboarded or offboarded. As employees we now have more clarity about the state of layoffs and hiring decisions that most of the management team does. I suggest doing the same within your org if you can.

We did the same informally with Slack, but it's a great tip :)

There's even some automations around leadership calendar meeting titles+invitees that I might or not have heard about. If leadership wants to play games people can play games back.

Re: The Layoff

#38

Post by rzzzt »

Arbortheus wrote: post #35
vasco wrote: post #13

"We won't share a list of the affected employees because some of them might not want the information to be public" was the biggest bullshit I've heard recently - no fiction needed. Discovering that people you worked with for years have been laid off only because you randomly notice their slack is deactivated has to be one of 2024s gifts to humanity.

Someone at my work created a secret bot that scrapes the outlook contacts list and diffs it from the previous day, each day. This way we get daily updates whenever a new person is onboarded or offboarded. As employees we now have more clarity about the state of layoffs and hiring decisions that most of the management team does. I suggest doing the same within your org if you can.

There was a recent post about a similar script, the LDAP diff pipeline: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39311507
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