jharper04Jan 29, 2023
John Minnihan

i was laid-off twice early in my career in very large reorgs / cost-cutting.

the thing that wld have been helpful for me to hear then was 'this is not abt you. you were a number on someone's spreadsheet. they wanted that number to go down by 1000 or 2000 or 10,000'.

so, to anyone who needs to hear that today:

it's not abt you. you did nothing wrong.

Jan 20, 2023 at 7:19pmWeb
Show threadtonJan 20, 2023
@jbminn is there enough discussion about „the skill harvest“ which doesn’t scale anymore to even better shape quarters since pandora has been stabbed?
Show threadWilliam HeroldJan 20, 2023
@jbminn what's crazy is how aggressively these companies were hiring last year. That's how terrible executives are at predicting revenue.
Show threadJohn MinnihanJan 20, 2023
@willigula yeah, the whiplash here is wild
Show threadRandy Noseworthy 😼 Jan 21, 2023

@jbminn

Carvana....
Was there for a short bit...

@willigula

Show threadAndy CooperJan 21, 2023
@willigula @jbminn It's almost as though executive shouldn't be a job at all with how bad all of the existing ones seem to be at it.
Show threadnormand 🚴Jan 22, 2023
@willigula @jbminn And yet, I'm sure they'll manage to get bonuses and stock options...
Show threadAlex, the Hearth FireJan 20, 2023
@jbminn it's also been comforting to see that the decision about who gets fired isn't based on performance or seniority
Show threadMichal Bryxí 🌱Jan 20, 2023
@WizardOfDocs @jbminn Mostly popularity contest sprinkled with "who knows whom" on the top.
Show threadJohn MinnihanJan 20, 2023
@MichalBryxi @WizardOfDocs sometimes, yes. not always
Show threadStygian LizardJan 21, 2023
@MichalBryxi @WizardOfDocs @jbminn this was absolutely my experience. I got laid off a few months ago (hired elsewhere since👍) and absolutely sat scratching my head over why I would've been chosen over someone who hadn't been there as long and had less overall experience. It's about other relationships I have no control over, ultimately. Also the fact I would've been fully vested soon.😒
Show thread@Lee_in_IowaJan 20, 2023
@jbminn Truth. As a manager I once had to lay off about 15 people and the Legal folks gave me no choices. Last in, first out, not allowed to use work quality as a criterion.
Show threadVoronJan 20, 2023
@jbminn they lie of “meritocracy” a term first popularized & used as a satire of capitalism
Show threadEl Diablo Roboc 😈🤖Jan 20, 2023
@jbminn Sam Bankman-Fried : phew !
Show threadDavid GerhartJan 21, 2023

@jbminn Yup. These reductions are absolutely not about the people. It's only about money.

Corporations are not people and they should not be treated as such. They should not be permitted access to the political process. Vis-a-vis money should not vote. But it does.

Corporations and big money are what underpin conflict that get people killed.

Only people bleed. Only people should vote.

#vote #endCitizensUnited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC#:~:text=The%20court%20held%205%2D4,labor%20unions%2C%20and%20other%20associations.

Citizens United v. FEC - Wikipedia

Show threadwendelovermatsJan 21, 2023

@dumbo @jbminn I enjoy the inversion of the interpretation …

Corporations are People, but with Limited Liability.

No money means No Speech.

#uspoli #citizensunited #cdnpoli

Show threadPhil FoteJan 21, 2023
@jbminn @papayaga I was lucky enough to receive this message when I got laid off with 6000 others. You’re absolutely right, it did help.
Show threadCooki LumsdenJan 21, 2023
@jbminn I was a promising young door to door encyclopaedia salesman when cd-rom books came to market. That was the first time I was replaced by technology.
Show threadRich KleinJan 21, 2023
@jbminn There's a reason employees are called "human resources." People should definitely never take it personally, especially when you find out via email :(. Use it as an opportunity to re-evaluate and move forward.
Show threadcrAshBanzaiJan 21, 2023
@jbminn
corporations are inhuman
fucking monsters
Show threadMarshaJan 21, 2023
@jbminn I watched a VP claim, in front of someone who was layed off, that only the "dead wood" was layed off. Then the VP was layed off and I did the happy dance of joy.
Show threadJohn MinnihanJan 21, 2023
@meshaiman "the jerk store called. they want that VP back"
Show threaddaveyJan 21, 2023
@meshaiman @jbminn I have volunteered for decades at a service organization; payback for the help they gave me ~40 years ago. In recent years, membership has shrunk, revenues have shrunk, clout has shrunk. The Board has hired CEOs whose mandate seemed to be to cut costs, most of all. These men, bullies in my (remote) eyes, repeatedly dumped experienced HQ staff for cheap new hires. HQ service has of course plummeted. Paid membership has dived further. But the mantra was "out with the deadwood."
Show threadMarshaJan 21, 2023
@davey The American company playbook.
Show threaddaveyJan 21, 2023
@meshaiman AN American company playbook. Thankfully there are plenty of decent ones around, as well as the crumbums.
Show threadouinneJan 21, 2023
@meshaiman @jbminn i am hoping in this case that ‘the the vp was laid off’ is secret code for ‘then the vp was pushed into a wood chipper’.
Show threadErinJan 21, 2023
@jbminn @oldredsubby Amen to that. Having both been on the spreadsheet or managing one in the past, you are absolutely right. The other words of advice I’d pass along is “this, too, will pass.” Enjoy the down time to the best of your ability.
Show threadMartha HowellJan 21, 2023
@jbminn I worked at a business that was purchased by a Fortune 100 company and there were layoffs annually after that. It was really a toxic thing for many of the people I saw laid off. I took a package to avoid having it happen to me, just so I could control my fate. Don't take it as a reflection of your worth, and don't dwell on it. Toxic.
Show threaddaveyJan 21, 2023
@MHowell @jbminn My sweetheart took a buyout after working for an organization for 25 years. Happy Days! She took off 14 mellow months, and went back to work elsewhere at a considerably higher salary and title.
Show threadCrazyITGuy42Jan 21, 2023

@jbminn

“And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things.”
― Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

Show threadSparky SantosJan 21, 2023
@jbminn been fired, saw companies shuttered, & was once one of nine out of +8000 kept. The bulk of the 8000 simply joined the new firm (as I did 9 months later). Poor businessmen are everywhere.
Show threadcorbJan 21, 2023
@jbminn In mass layoffs it’s never about the individual. It’s about hitting targets. I’ve done it numerous times at different companies. The lists have nothing to do with merit.
Show threadBeckyBSFJan 21, 2023
@jbminn But we did do something wrong in tech. We didn’t unionize. We though stock options would allow us to retire some day. It didn’t.
Show threadCorvusJan 21, 2023

@jbminn

https://youtu.be/r0mO6UY6uTg

The Fifth Element Zorg Fires 1 million

YouTube
Show threadKevin Karhan Jan 21, 2023

@jbminn *nodds in agreement*

I've literally seen someone's employer [a German branch of a big international Corporation] etting bulldozed despite their profitability because someone wanted to ax 'liabilites' aka. to-be-paid employees.

OFC that meant they killed the entire R&D dept and thus the company went belly-up within 5-10 years due to lack of new products and patents to license [no it's not pharma!]...

Show threadCarlJan 21, 2023

@jbminn
Seconded... My worst day as an NZ manager at a US multinational was getting to work and finding an email list of people in my team subject to a 'Resource Action' (euphemism for getting fired) by lunchtime that day...

No explanation. No warning. No discernible reason. No chance to argue... some managers had already tried and been told in no uncertain terms it was non-negotiable.

At least we got to tell people face to face rather than just disabling their access cards...

Show threadbJan 21, 2023
@jbminn having been part of a small startup doing layoffs early in my career and seeing my father laid off after 25 years of service - I highly recommend experiencing it when you're young.
Show threadIvanJan 21, 2023
@jbminn I was laid off once, without warning, as part of cost-cutting efforts, and 3 days later VP invited me to lunch offering to work as a consultant on the same project!? Was free lunch, and thank you, but no thank you. He was claiming nobody told him about the layoffs!
Show threadAdara AstinJan 21, 2023
@jbminn I think this connects to a bigger truth, that we don't convey to people early in their lives (if at all): it's entirely possible to do everything right and still get bad outcomes, particularly in unfair and heartless systems. That's why relying on individual exceptionalism is never enough to keep you safe in life, and why collective solutions are critical.
Show threadChris WojnoJan 21, 2023
@jbminn 👆this
Show threadChris BakerJan 21, 2023
@jbminn I've been on both sides of large layoffs, and, six months on, I was better off when I was laid off.
Show threadschoolingdianaJan 21, 2023
@jbminn My aunt, who developed the computerized cockpit for the Lockheed C5-A as a grad student, told me: “When management doesn’t know what they’re doing, they reorganize.” She’s never been wrong, there. Layoffs show upper management has hit the Peter Principle level.
Show threadauthor_is_ShrikeTron🔠💉x5Jan 21, 2023

@jbminn Concur.

Corps want to do a reorg/purge and this is how they always do it.

It has nothing to do with the economy or business, and everything to do with the next report to shareholders.

Show threadhikewithrichardJan 21, 2023
@jbminn that never helps. In this case it’s worse because it’s companies with record profits. That makes it all the more sadistic.
Show threadWuggerhumphdenJan 21, 2023

@jbminn I worked for a global organisation for 25+ years. Was given notice and 2 days later found my role being advertised in Poland. It wasn't about me, just my location and the market 'price' for resource there.

That's all I was, a regrettable expense on a balance sheet. Not a human, not a sentient being with responsibilities and a right to a standard of living. Just a number.

Show threadAndy CameronJan 21, 2023
@jbminn The thing that’s also bothered me about all of the lay-offs is that there doesn’t seem to be any leadership accountability.
When things are going great, the C-suite takes the credit, but when things go badly it’s the workers who take the fall.
Yes, I know this is a challenging economy right now, but every single big tech CEO made the same mistake of thinking pandemic growth would be permanent, but none of them are being held accountable for that mistake and the human cost is huge.
Show threadlizzzzardJan 21, 2023

@jbminn I just heard a philosophical talk by Adorno and Horckheimer from the 1950ies, complaining about how humans should not ever be managed like things and how the (then only emerging) big companies are dehumanizing all aspects of life.

This is what I feel there. Our work lives have become completely dehumanizing.

Show threadClaudio Zizza 🦜Jan 21, 2023
@jbminn Tell that to companies who have to decide between someone who was fired and someone who left him-/herself. The stigma of fired = bad is still widely spread.
Show threadpollyJan 21, 2023

@jbminn Once you've been made redundant, you realise that ultimately you are a just cost on the payroll. If that cost can be cut, it will.

However committed you are, or how many hours of unpaid overtime you do, no company or organisation will love you back.

Show threadCarolineCherryJan 21, 2023
@jbminn I couldn’t agree more. It’s vital that people don’t blame themselves. It’s all so arbitrary. As someone that also got laid off in a recession in my twenties . It was such a shock and they laid us off at Christmas .I ended up leaving career permanently which has led me to retrain but I think there is a cost to society about this level of disruption which is so casually undertaken by businesses.Maybe there should be regulations to tax businesses that do this, with no plan.
Show threadPeter HenryJan 21, 2023
@jbminn Always have an escape plan - I finally decided at 40 that it's best to run your own show - no regrets 40 years on!
Show threadxs4me2Jan 21, 2023

@jbminn

But that for sure can be frustrating...

Show threadChristine BrösenhuberJan 21, 2023
@jbminn So true! In his late 20s, my hubby way laid off by the first company he worked for (after only 3 months) cuz it'd been bought by a US one. He was on the bottom rung of the ladder + had to go. Tough, bt he didn't allow that to deter him. About 15 years, + also a burn out, near lawsuit + unemployment while we were raising 2 toddlers later he has almost reached a CEO position. Anything's possible!
Show threadMichael KohneJan 21, 2023
@jbminn Damn straight. I've been laid off several times - it's NEVER you. Someone decided 'number must change' and you got to be the one let go. It IS shittty. It DOES hurt, but please, please remember - it's never about you, it's about them!
Show threadCoyleDAJan 21, 2023
@jbminn that’s exactly what happened when ebay and PayPal split. They wouldn’t say it, but they wanted to juice eBay’s stock price just so John Donahoe could be a billionaire on paper.
Show threadPhilip MartinJan 21, 2023

@jbminn

I was told at the end of November that my contract with a large, multinational technology company wasn’t being renewed at the end of February. Two weeks later, they told me they were ending the contract at the end of January, “sorry about that.” My team will have gone from 10 developers to 3 in one year.

Heard from another team that all their contractors were out at then end of January, too.

They still need all the managers there, though. To pat each other’s backs? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Show threadBethanyJan 21, 2023
@jbminn When it’s handled with dignity and respect I think people understand. When you’re blindsided with you work access cut off and a group email, it’s disgusting.
Show threadRandy Noseworthy 😼 Jan 21, 2023

@jbminn

👍

Been there,
Done that.

And you are SO right.

Ex-wife still thought it was about me...
But that was years ago.
LOL...

@ND3JR

Show threadLAF and LOVEJan 22, 2023
@jbminn I’m an “older” woman and the times I got “laid off” (fired) were directly related to not complying with sexual advances or that the boss had a male friend he would rather have in the job so they could golf together. My fault?
Show threadAndy_Rogers 🇨🇦Jan 22, 2023

@jbminn
My wife and I worked in the same department (pro tip: very bad idea) of a large international software dev company.

That entire department was eliminated as part of a cost-cutting measure with no regard for impact to the company. We just happened to be the right size to eliminate 15% of employees at one location.

I estimate it cost the company about 18 months
of development time to upskill the replacements and fill in the knowledge gaps.

Utterly stupid tactic.

Show threadJohn MinnihanJan 22, 2023
@Hr0thgar so many stories like this