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Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

mcsweeneys.net

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Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#61

Post by jachee »

no_wizard wrote: post #35
matusp wrote: post #10

If the company fires hundreds or thousands of people and there is no visible dip in the productivity, is it really a bad thing? One thing that is baffling to me is that these companies can fire 10% of their workforce and they just keep on chugging without a hitch. The bullshit job phenomenon is the problem here.

Why is anyone so quick to take the company side? For starters, productivity is a broad term, so without defining what it means in context it isn’t doing anyone any favors. You won’t feel the dip or record it until after the event happens, and often not right away. When productivity drops a year from now for example, that could be due to layoffs. It’s not always immediate in its impact. I also question this from the o…

“It is difficult to get a man[ager] to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

(With apologies to Upton Sinclair.)

Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#62

Post by krainboltgreene »

matwood wrote: post #48
davesque wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the sake of argument, does that mean all those employees were useless or does it mean the management isn't doing a good job of allocating them to effective work? I've been at a few companies that were rudderless and yeah, letting go of people wouldn't have made much difference because the leadership didn't know what to do with them anyway.

Big tech clearly overhired during the pandemic. The layoffs over the last 12-24 months are a return to the mean.

Funny you should say that because H1B's have shot back up to pre-pandemic rates.

I've never understood why people would believe this overhired narrative, have you ever worked for a company that correctly understood it's own hiring capabilities or measurements? I haven't 15 years in.

Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#63

Post by EchoChamberMan »

yinser wrote: post #7

I can't decide if I'd prefer to hear a bunch of nonsense from an executive at the moment of being let go, or no explanation and just an email saying I'm part of a layoff.

There's a third option - no warning at all, your laptop is remotely disabled, and you have to figure it out yourself.

Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#64

Post by brookst »

matusp wrote: post #10

If the company fires hundreds or thousands of people and there is no visible dip in the productivity, is it really a bad thing? One thing that is baffling to me is that these companies can fire 10% of their workforce and they just keep on chugging without a hitch. The bullshit job phenomenon is the problem here.

That’s one interpretation.

Another is that that 10% of work is distributed to the remaining 90%, who now work harder and are more stressed, but well aware that they were lucky to keep their jobs and therefore willing to absorb an extra hour a day.

Which, free market and all that, may just be smart business. But I don’t think it’s necessarily good management in the long term.

Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#66

Post by MilStdJunkie »

matusp wrote: post #10

If the company fires hundreds or thousands of people and there is no visible dip in the productivity, is it really a bad thing? One thing that is baffling to me is that these companies can fire 10% of their workforce and they just keep on chugging without a hitch. The bullshit job phenomenon is the problem here.

If I went into your body and deleted all your DNA, you'd feel fine too. Chugging along. For a while.

Here's another thing: the productivity that's being tracked isn't aligned with the value that the consumer is paying for. You can see this in government contracting a lot, where the consumer doesn't even see the product - they just see the paperwork. If you're really good at "producing" paperwork, you don't need anything else for a very, very, very long time.

Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#67

Post by throwawayq3423 »

krainboltgreene wrote: post #62
matwood wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big tech clearly overhired during the pandemic. The layoffs over the last 12-24 months are a return to the mean.

Funny you should say that because H1B's have shot back up to pre-pandemic rates. I've never understood why people would believe this overhired narrative, have you ever worked for a company that correctly understood it's own hiring capabilities or measurements? I haven't 15 years in.

It's cost cutting, not demand for labor. A large headcount used to be a status symbol for a public company (to juice the stock), now if anything it's the opposite.

Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#68

Post by rgrieselhuber »

silverquiet wrote: post #38
Fin_Code wrote: post #21

I'm pretty sure a lot of this is connected to the bond market. Companies are running out of operating capitol. When they try and get an operating loan the terms are onerous. Rather than refinance they are electing to perform layoffs to maintain solvency. It does not matter how good you are doing in contrast to previous years. If your loan comes due and you can't afford another one to keep that revolving credit going…

I work for a company that does something that I guess is a bit unusual - they use the revenue from our customers to pay employee salaries. If you would have asked me, this would seem like the obvious way to do things, but I'm told that debt is very important for some reason or other. As Homer Simpson has been known to say, "I don't know how the economy works".

When interest rates are very low, companies are incentivized to borrow more as they can get better returns by investing their own cash flow into assets with predictable returns. When those interest rates go higher and these higher interest rates are coupled with harsher terms, then the ability to invest decreases, companies view reducing headcount as the way to survive to the next phase.

Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#69

Post by esafak »

jader201 wrote: post #28

You know it's satire from the title (and the first paragraph) because it uses terms like "fired" and "let go". Nobody uses those anymore. You're "impacted".

"Poor people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities. And they're broke! They're broke! They don't have a negative cash-flow position. They're ****ing broke! Cause a lot of them were fired. You know, fired. Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area, so many people are no longer viable members of the workforce."

George Carlin. https://youtu.be/vuEQixrBKCc?si=cLfi4-hH78PA6ZEg&t=217*

Re: Our Company Is Doing So Well That You're All Fired

#70

Post by mv4 »

matusp wrote: post #10

If the company fires hundreds or thousands of people and there is no visible dip in the productivity, is it really a bad thing? One thing that is baffling to me is that these companies can fire 10% of their workforce and they just keep on chugging without a hitch. The bullshit job phenomenon is the problem here.

Productivity is a lagging indicator. Anxious, scared, overworked people can still be "productive" for weeks even months, it's just not sustainable in the long run.

Similarly, many systems can continue functioning (seemingly without a hitch) when you cease all maintenance and preventive care. Eventually, they will fail.

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