Am I oversimplifying, or are the layoffs more of a predictable function of correcting for zero interest money without fear of employment lawsuits?
Money was free (zero interest) during covid. Most tech companies increased staff to keep pace with each other. A lot of these hires were in support staff and junior positions needed to support low acquisition costs of new customers. Now that interest rates went up and growth stalled, companies are trimming both unprofitable customers and excess staff. Essentially, the CEOs get a free pass to fire people without risk of employment contract lawsuits.
From founder friends of private companies, the initial wave of layoffs during early days of covid was a godsend of sorts. It allowed them to fire problematic employees without needing to go through protracted performance reviews. Then they hired new people using cheap loans 6 months later. Now they're correcting again with layoffs, keeping top performers, and shifting staff over to high leverage projects like AI.
The short of it... did CEOs really make any significant mistakes? Or did they just take advantage of the market conditions in predictable ways? i.e. They did their jobs as it's currently incentivized.
I'm not saying it's ethical to mass hire and fire. And I certainly empathize with the people who've been laid off. But perhaps it's a more accurate depiction to say the current layoffs are part of a larger strategy to reduce staff and increase bottom line in preparation for AI acquisitions. It's not a correction but a significant reshaping of tech labor force as a whole.