Fearing social media backlash, companies are using all kinds of euphemisms to avoid being straightforward about layoffs — ‘right-sized’, ‘org changes’, ‘simplified operating model’::Managers are running out of ways to say you no longer have a job, but the way the bad news is delivered is more important than ever.
So they’ve hired too much people and now they need to let them go. Why doesn’t this have consequences for the people hiring in the first place? It is your responsibility to adapt to market changes but when you mess up, your head is not on the line?
If you fuck up at work you get fired. If your work fucks up, you get fired. How is that fair?
Because over hiring is not a fireable offense and it wouldn’t make sense that it would be? Say you have a manager of 10 programmers and company sales projections day you’re getting 20% more business that year, so you get approved to hire 2 new programmers. Turns out you only increase by 10% and more there’s nothing for 1 new programmer to do.
Do you fire the hiring manager? They were just going by the corporate plan and moreover you still need a manager. You still need sales guys. The only one not doing anything is the programmer. Doesn’t have to be the new person fired but the worst programmer needs to be moved somewhere where they’re needed, or fired.
I am not saying you fire some hiring manager but I’m saying fire who is responsible for hiring more people than you need. Clearly someone is not doing their job properly or you wouldn’t get these mass firings.
Weak labor laws? Where I live after 3 months (with some exceptions) they can’t just fire you. They pretty much have to prove you’re incapable of working or that the position will no longer exist (which in this scenario is probably not even possible) or have a collective layoff with some serious benefits for the laid off workers. I’ve seen some companies try to kinda coerce people into quitting to get around the laws (because they’re so much pain in the ass for shitty companies), but at that point you just have to stick to your rights and tell them to get fucked because they can’t do shit.
Because it’s not true. It feels believable, but it’s a lie. Everyone, especially at the top, know this so no one is punished.