Re:Stack Overflow reducing headcount by 20%
by gaius on Friday November 03, 2017 @02:54PM
(#15621457)
If there are ten employees you need to cut, shouldn't they be cut based on either their recent performance
No, because layoffs are position-based. If it's a performance related cull then that's not the same as redundancies. If you want to get rid of people like that then you need ironclad documentation and/or to provide generous packages.
In a hard time it tries to do the thing with the less overall impact.
Maybe it's putting lipstick on a pig, maybe it's fairness.
Layoffs (mass dismissal) are very hard, because usually it means the whole region has economic problems, and those that get laid off are especially vulnerable - because they almost by definition work in a sort of dying industry/trade.
If there are ten employees you need to cut, shouldn't they be cut based on either their recent performance, or a completely random method?