Comment by mathattack

I’ve been through several waves of corporate layoffs across many industries.

Some observations:

1 - It’s rarely one round.

2 - Companies tend to be the most thoughtful on the first round. Then it looks easy and the precision (and severance) of future cuts goes down. That’s why it’s smart to take a voluntary offer.

3 - Cuts that are broad based (“Every department cuts 15%”) are a sign the company doesn’t know what’s going on or prefers harmony over hard choices.

4 - Layoffs can be a crutch for firms that don’t do performance management. (Less work to do a layoff than have managers counsel bad performers out)

5 - Managers should never promise “No layoffs”