Jack Welch was simply doing long pending layoffs.
You mean, getting rid of people who had been promised deferred compensation, before having to make good on it? That was the deal with old-skool companies, remain loyal for 30 years then ease your way into retirement. GE got the loyalty then shafted those guys.
In India many old people got shafted both the ways being asked to take voluntary retirements and being subjected to high inflation rates at the same time.
Well, you can, or no obligation means anything anymore. Why should a company even pay you your wages if things are a little tight this month, by that logic?
Its just people woke up to the fact that socialism wasn't a feasible model anymore.
These are debt obligations at the level of a country. On 'your' investments.
This is totally different than saying a person should be given a job, even if they don't work.
There's been a lot of rants about the utility of stack ranking and this sort of "fire the worst performers because everyone else is better" attitude. Namely wrong incentives.
You have John Carmack and a clone of John Carmack working on your game engine. You have stack ranking. Which one should you let go during review season? Should you hire some extra people to protect your good people?