What are tech company execs playing at?
Some possible reasons for the new trend of layoffs in highly profitable companies
It seems like January is the month where tech companies now look to shed employees. Yet, to people affected and people looking from the outside it’s unclear why these firing decisions are being made. When executives say “if we didn’t act it would be a worse decision down the line” it simply doesn’t ring true. If the company was not profitable or profits were falling then there might be a case. After all, there will always be a case for firing people on an individual basis but that should be the job of individual managers.
What is interesting about the layoffs across the industry is that the companies in question were still hiring and even now are still hiring during their latest round of layoffs. Yet, at no point does an effort appear to have been made to find fit highly skilled people into those roles. The most transparency that has been provided is that cuts were made because “we over hired” or “we want to focus on our priorities” and that the layoffs could have been handled in a better manner. It’s unclear how this round of layoffs is better than in 2023 other than there being fewer people affected.
Based on that it’s reasonable to try and figure out what is behind the layoffs. What follows is my speculation as to some of the causes behind…
