Earlier quoted context omitted.
Vanova's Razor
-sigh- I google Vanova's razor and then realized you were quoting OP. :)
It worked!
Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
51–60 of 469 posts
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#52does this imply the lay-offs were a product of collusion at the executive level across the entire sector? If anyone could find evidence of that it would be extremely news-worthy. If I might adorn my hat of tin-foil for a second; at a big corp I used to work at, I heard execs predicting this outcome back in early 2022 in combination with being incredibly relaxed about the employment market being extremely hot at the t…
doesn't imply that to me. this is not the first market down turn. this is not the first time companies have shed employees in anticipation of a market down turn. this is also not the first time to use this type of situation to unload less desirable employees. it also provides for companies with cover with the unions (especially those just formed). no collusion necessary to be familiar with history
> to unload less desirable employees
I don't think that has necessarily happened. I've seen people write that Google's firings at least feel somewhat arbitrary.
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#53I had a manager namecheck the layoffs as a reason they don't need to move on addressing any of our team's concerns about working conditions. Same manager invoked the Nuremburg Defense the other day. Trying times.
Someone should invoke the Unionization defense.
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#54does this imply the lay-offs were a product of collusion at the executive level across the entire sector? If anyone could find evidence of that it would be extremely news-worthy. If I might adorn my hat of tin-foil for a second; at a big corp I used to work at, I heard execs predicting this outcome back in early 2022 in combination with being incredibly relaxed about the employment market being extremely hot at the t…
It may look like collusion, but in fact tech leadership (VCs/Founders/execs/CEOs) makes wildebeast look like lone wolves. I've seen very little evidence of independent thinking with that crowd, which is funny because a lot of them will identify as some flavour of libertarian or heterodox.
Basically, don't attribute to malice etc...
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#55You mean *consolidate worker power. Critical people don't get layoffs unless they work for a muskcorp.
In the recent layoffs I've seen some very senior high-performing engineers get the axe, because they were very expensive and the org could get two juniors grinding out CRUD for the same value as one super senior architecture astronaut.
Things brings about another question. Will the change in economic climate encourage these companies to ditch over-complicated Rube Goldberg machine stacks in favour of ones that allow Juniors to grind out CRUD. One can but hope
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Union-busting, NDA’s, restricting new slack channels, non-competes - all the usual ways!
This response just turns my question into: why haven't the usual ways been sufficient for the rest of the tech companies? why are the usual ways still sufficient for apple but not for the others???
Apple still might do a big layoff.
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#57Or maybe it’s just a balance sheet thing
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#58This claim violates Hanlon’s Razor “Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.” Over-hiring, over-salarying and not anticipating the consequences of a pandemic and post-pandemic on business might qualify as “incompetence” The thing that bothers me is this tone I'm seeing online and in particular in this discussion where people presume that a salary is owed no matter what, and t…
I despise Hanlons razor. It flies against everything we know about people in power. Probably made popular by powerful
It was designed by a Reptillian scientist who was sponsored by the crab people from Mars.
Though it may seem like a plot against humanity, it's actually just a market ploy to cause a run on aluminum foil head pieces, engineered by Big Haberdashery.
And we all know what Big Haberdashery likes to engineer.
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#59Intentional or not, worker power has been crushed by these layoffs.
Really? It's like not even 10% of the swe workforce. If this crushes you, you had no power to begin with. It's more like a reminder of that fact. It's all BS though, stocks are back to 2019 levels, one of the highest periods ever, in a field where there's still not enough bodies for all the jobs. I'm pretty sure that leverage hasn't changed.
Fundamentally however, the success of this role will not last. It's just a matter of time, I just don't think this is that time.
Edit: From what numbers I could find layoffs in tech, in 2022 and 2023 so far slightly above 5% of the US SWE workforce, not even worldwide, and since not all of these people laid off were developers It's probably even less.
This was two things, a way to shed cheap heads paid for when money was free, now that it's not so free and those heads are not so cheap and a way to induce fear to keep heads in line, but like, that second part is bullshit.
Re: Big Tech is using layoffs to crush worker power
#60Guess tech workers should have unionized when they had the chance. As if capital was going to let the most powerful group of workers that's ever existed continue to slip their noose
What would the union solve in this specific instance?
Tech has had high pay gor a long time, mostly due to cheap money. If the cheap money goes away, how do they pay these inflated salaries?
Overall, I think unions can be good because you have clear terms defined in a contract. That provides a more fair environment when it comes to worker treatment, calibration, etc. But I don't see it helping with pay in most cases, certainly not in terms of preventing these layoffs either.