@peterme This is very true. Not just is it social contagion as an idea, but within a company it spreads shortermitis amongst the people who are left.

Because they have all just been shown by their employer they are expendable. (And, we knew that before too, but we can fool ourselves that *our* managers or team is different only so long.) And so, no longer give a flying fuck about the company's numbers or the intangibles like teamwork that have just been made a lie of.

@peterme When doing layoffs a company will always try to layoff the lowest performers and least essential employees.

Even so layoffs are always traumatic and result in some of the best employees who can easily find jobs elsewhere leaving afterwards. In a tech company where the employees are one of the most important assets, this always hurts the company.

@peterme I think it's more to do with feeding an unsustainable corporate growth engine. It brings in a lot of investor insecurity so a lot of this is a preemptive effort at being "more" fiscally efficient.
https://tenor.com/view/agent-smith-give-me-more-the-matrix-reloaded-gif-13930641

Sounds like a word salad because that is the mental state with which the problem is attempted to be addressed. We are still reptilian emotional animals with fancier logical systems, only to be overridden by our reptilian emotional brain.

@peterme

So it does make sense because it doesn't.

Think of it as a measure to rattle the cage a little, show some cruelty as a deterrent, aimed to be a chilling. This only works if they all do it in sync. Given that it all boils down to if you have part of the staff that increases performance by such behaviour and what happens to the other part; will they yo-yo out and in?

As bad as it is, it is turned from inside hostility to be an outside enemy, it might close the lines even.

@peterme So good and unfortunately true. Not only with layoff, but many other actions.

There are some really smart companies that while they may have layoffs in a perceived or perception of a potential down turn, they also start hiring in people to plan for next steps and modernization and improvements. Often a smallish team that frames things for a stepped transformation. This is all driven by top leaders and not related directly to the company, but top leader thinking.

@peterme I think this is the year we can revitalize the economy. I'm tired of waiting for "the powers that be" to do it for us. We can do it ourselves!

But we have to stand together and take bold steps in order to alleviate the stagnation and get folks back to work. Let's stop making excuses and take action!

We underestimate the extent to which "CEOs" are a community prone to fads, memes, groupthink, and all kinds of herd behaviors.

Looking at a murmuration of birds, it's easy to assume they're collectively executing on a coordinated central plan. But in fact, each individual is a simple agent governed by very simple rule-based interactions with to the ones around it.

@peterme

@peterme I had the experience with working for the MOTHER of doing layoffs - Boeing. Usually because a phase in a product's development was over, so most of the people were laid off.

I was laid off when my project was over. No effort to find another place of work. I guess I was spoiled by my time at TRW. They had a Monthly (?) paper that listed all of the open positions in the organization. Some of the best jobs I ever had were while working at TRW.

@peterme This os exactly right. Profits show they have no reason for layoffs. They do it because it's fashionable. And because of fear of quarterly earnings.

Every recession is the same. We've been on an upswing for a while, people waoting for the downswing. Then the media starts talking about it. At first no one believes the media, but they keep talking about it. Because we've been on the upswing too long, had too much fun, gotten fat.

Then, one big company is the first to chicken out (2022 was Amazon). Then others say, well, if that company did it, they must know something we don't. So they lay off exactly the same amount 2022 is 10%). Then with multiple big companies doing, everyone gets more scared.

Now media is banging on about how they were "right" (ignoring the false predictions of the last so many years). They were right, and it's going to get worse! This news sells! Bad news sells.

Now the entire herd has moved to layoffs, big & small, like so many gazelles.

@peterme @djnavarro

"Why are everybody jumping off a cliff but us"

@peterme

those of us working for big entities are true widgets - easily replaced and forgotten. so sad that they are playing with the lives of so many while still having tons of money

@peterme

Well *there's* a new application of #MimeticTheory !

@peterme thanks for sharing the good article!

I found this gem near the end:

"One thing that Lincoln Electric, which is a famous manufacturer of arc welding equipment, did well is instead of laying off 10% of their workforce, they had everybody take a 10% wage cut except for senior management, which took a larger cut. So instead of giving 100% of the pain to 10% of the people, they give 100% of the people 10% of the pain."

I also like the implication that senior management is taking more of the "pain". Not only are they the ones who can probably best afford to take the hit, but they are ultimately those most responsible for the company's situation, so they should take it.

That's how a responsible business should be run.