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#layoffs

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jirikiha@diasp.org
Sam

#Layoffs, a story of contrasts.

In the year 2000 I joined Motorola with drive and ambition. I worked hard to learn my job, and the jobs of the areas around me, becoming an AFO (Area Flexible Operator - Motorola loved acronyms!).

One big downside to my new job was the uncertainty. Layoffs were common. Make some friends, they get laid off. Make more friends, then see them lose their livelihoods, too. It's a caustic effect on the heart and soul. Many would stop making friends at work. It doesn't hurt as much if it's "just a coworker". The semiconductor industry is cyclical and layoffs happen. This is widely understood. It's also a lie. Four and a half years and SEVEN layoffs later, I left for another company, cynical about the business.

One layoff in particular was the trigger to search for another company to work for. It was just another layoff, another sad day. Couldn't be helped as we were $3M short and the layoffs would save money to keep the company running. Later that week they announced that, due to stock prices doing so well, the CEO had earned a $3M bonus. Thousands had just lost their jobs, their daily bread, and the CEO is awarded millions of dollars on top of his multimillion-dollar salary.

Fast forward to 2011.

Now I'm working for a small semiconductor company most have never heard of. Our main clients are in Japan, and they make up the bulk of our sales. On March 11th, the Tohoku earthquake caused a tsunami that devastated Japan's coastline and caused damage to a nuclear reactor. Factories were damaged and half the island nation was without power. Over half of our revenue disappeared overnight.

But, there were no layoffs.

Management announced we needed to save money to keep afloat while our customers' factories were being repaired. Hourly employees worked reduced hours. 32 hours a week - enough to keep full-time status so we kept our benefits. Salary employees' pay was reduced, and the higher the salary, the more it was reduced. We were in this together and nobody lost their job.

The Japanese restored power and repaired their homes and businesses, and our sales were likewise restored. Management made some changes, having learned from the situation. They found customers in geographically diverse places to reduce the risk of physical disasters and built new lines of business in other industries to reduce the risk of business sector cycles.

Some things we didn't need to do: there was no need to create a hiring campaign to replace the laid-off workers once demand increased because no one was laid off. We didn't need to train new employees for the same reason.

Layoffs are a costly decision that both hamstrings the company doing it and indicates a toxic business culture and inept management incapable of leadership. Mass-layoffs are a shock to business sectors and the economy. They increase pay gaps and wealth disparity by suppressing wages while increasing capital wealth. We need a new corporate culture, one that supports both employees and employers instead of pitting one against the other.

Stop the layoffs, and stop kowtowing to those who promote this despicable practice.

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psych@diasp.org
Michael

Well, I've now carefully read Mark Zuckerberg's farewell, good luck message to the 1000s he "let go".
First the motherlode of #psychopathology, #TrumpVirus, then another owner of all the best words, #Musk....

Meta laying off more than 11,000 employees: Read Zuckerberg’s letter announcing the cuts

And now here's our much-liked Mark turned King of the Privacy Snatchers, firing a huge number of people across 'organizations', telling those remaining that desk-sharing will be implemented, and....

Like Dark Lord Stablegenius had his wall (and Ahab his whale), #Zuck is obsessed, ISTM, with his "infrastructure".
As Morbius [#Muskius] scowls, "Id, id, id!", this guy is super oriented about completing his "infrastructure" and then being able to own the whole world in 3 dimensions at a time.... I'd say scary. But he's only got one lifetime and this is a strange era! Someone may try to steal the strawberries, but gosh darn he's going to build and be master of the Metaverse!

#facebook #Metaverse #psychopathy #narcissism #socialmedia #Zuckerberg #layoffs #grandiosity

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