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Layoffs Don't Work

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Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#351

Post by deviantbit »

ryandrake wrote: post #340
deviantbit wrote: post #334

This is a terrible opinion piece. Layoffs do work. Cutting hours does not work. I am always amazed how few people understand how a business operates. They think its a community organized event where there is unlimited revenue. There are a few basic accounting principles employees need to understand. It all revolves around Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity. If you think otherwise, take a "Cost Accounting" course.…

I mean, everything you said is true, but only because we have deliberately set up the system as such. Shareholder Primacy is a choice we have made as a society. It's not some natural law or something carved by god into stone tablets. It's not hard to imagine alternatives, but obviously the shareholding class is going to work hard to ensure that only their preferred rules have traction. Whether or not alternatives are…

No, it's not a choice we made as a society. It was a choice the shareholders made. You didn't make that choice, you were not part of it.

Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#353

Post by davidw »

deviantbit wrote: post #334

This is a terrible opinion piece. Layoffs do work. Cutting hours does not work. I am always amazed how few people understand how a business operates. They think its a community organized event where there is unlimited revenue. There are a few basic accounting principles employees need to understand. It all revolves around Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity. If you think otherwise, take a "Cost Accounting" course.…

Math wise, yes, you're correct, but layoffs can also hurt morale, especially if not done well. And in a competitive environment, the most talented people might be next to leave after a layoff, as they see things aren't going well and have the easiest time finding alternatives. I've seen that happen myself.

And some of those people you're laying off did revenue generating activities, so, as above, yes, it may be necessary to reduce costs, but it has to be done carefully.

Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#354

Post by __turbobrew__ »

throwaway151883 wrote: post #325
ltbarcly3 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have done probably 500 to 1000 tech screens for big tech companies (as the interviewer) and this is completely true. I have interviewed many people employed in tech as programmers for their entire career and they can't code. I don't meen leetcode, I mean they get confused trying to write brute force substring search. The nested for loop seems to be too complex for them to keep in their head all at once. I have had…

> check if text has mismatched parens I always try to give everyone I’ve interviewed the benefit of the doubt. You never know what’s going on in their lives, and even if they fail a trivial question it doesn’t mean they are faking the ability to code. I joined Facebook back in 2018. Didn’t study at all for the interview and passed somehow. Then I probably conducted 200-300 interviews in my time there, so I became qui…

I run coding interviews at BIGCO. Half of the candidate success relies on the skills of the interviewer. A bad interviewer can bomb the best candidates.

Something I have changed my stance on a bit is automated coding interviews. I used to be adamantly against a company giving candidates automated code tests, but I see now that it takes the interviewer out of the equation.

Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#355

Post by astrange »

nthingtohide wrote: post #91
kibwen wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stock market is just a predictions market, and any predictions market at scale destroys the subject of its prediction.

Can we have a different kind of stock market which forces participants to consider long term outcomes more? E.g. no HFT firm should be able to make a profit from such a stock market. Selling stocks earlier and often should result in a penalty or percentage being taken away as a fee. As a retail investor I would love to use invest and forget strategy based on trends observed in such a stock market.

This subthread is nonsense. As a retail investor, HFT is good for you and lowers your prices. They have a bad reputation because of the book Flash Boys… but basically nothing in that book was true.

Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#356

Post by bongodongobob »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #150

Real talk here, and I'm sorry for being "that guy" Why do tech workers get so wrapped around the axle of layoffs when most people are in a chronic state of tech job hopping? I know multiple people who have worked their entire career thus far without ever staying at a place for more than 3 or 4 years. Some no more than two. Tech job culture is practically a mono culture with "hop jobs" being a hallmark. From an employ…

Because it's usually only true in your early 20s. Then you find a place and stay. These people bragging about company hopping every 3 or 4 years don't do that for 20 years.

Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#357

Post by [deleted] »

slackernews9 wrote: post #293
Nextgrid wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because a company can be overall profitable doesn't mean costs aren't out of control. If you make enough profits, you can literally feed money into a shredder and still come out ahead if you earn profits faster than your shredder can eat them.

So maybe we don't take jobs away from people with families and mortgages then, if all we have to do is sacrifice some profits, yeah? Gee, maybe the company can only make $9 billion instead of $9.5 billion, and everyone can stay employed.

[deleted]

Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#358

Post by ryandrake »

ltbarcly3 wrote: post #223
tayo42 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get how people get jobs so easily. It took me like 8 months and it was extremely stressful.

They have connections from previous jobs who will vouch for them.

How does this work, though? Every company I've worked for has an HR system, and resumes flow through it, and there's a set process. If I have worked with a candidate in the past and highly recommend them, all I can do is submit their resume into the great void and check a box "Recommend". I don't have any other power. There is no "Skip the interview, I vouch for him!" button that I can push.

Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#359

Post by astrange »

billy99k wrote: post #126
thrance wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll start to call this mindset the "DOGE mind-virus": "80% of workers are doing absolutely nothing and can be cut with no repercussions whatsoever". Sure buddy.

Well, it worked for Twitter. Lots of people screamed that Twitter would implode withing 6 months, after the massive cuts. There was some scrambling for a while, but I haven't noticed any issues. In fact, they've added tons of new features and Grok AI (which is much better than competitors).

They fired all the mods and sales reps, so the company no longer makes money because it can't sell ads.

They mostly haven't added new features either, just turned on some flags for features in testing.

Re: Layoffs Don't Work

#360

Post by ChiMan »

The more fundamental question is: If mass layoffs are so necessary, then who’s responsible for the unnecessary mass hiring? In any mass layoff, fire that person first. Get to the root of the problem.
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