I was laid off from Akamai about 17 years ago. It was traumatic, but it was handled reasonably well and in a manner which made it clear that it was not what the company wanted to do, but what it had to do to survive.

The company did survive.

Four or five times since then, a friend or acquaintance has asked me if Akamai would be a good place for them to work. In all cases, I have told them to go ahead.

Can you see anyone from Bird having that opinion about the company in the future?

Stop saying "single, atomic operation" like the humans being laid off are some database transaction, for God's sake.

These people being laid off spent a portion of their lives working for the company. They might have some personal contacts they'd like to get from their former colleagues, additional information since our healthcare is absurdly tied to our employment, as well as some level of understanding as to why they're being let go.

To appeal to your purely non-empathetical side, it also is negative PR for the company and might be a deterrent for future prospective employees to know that this company likes to handle mass layoffs in a "single, atomic operation."

But none of that is needed. They don't work for the company, and the company has no reason to waste thousands of dollars per employee on this.

We're now entering a recession with mass unemployment, so any company, no matter how shitty, will be able to pick up the cream of the crop for pennies on the dollar.

Blocking someone’s laptop right now saves you 0 money.

As a matter of fact it puts you in a position where everyone you just fucked over is willing to take extra steps to make every little bit of communication harder and less efficient.

I would not be surprised that half of these people are going to start replying to their messages at literally the end of the time specified by the contract.

Good luck getting those laptops back

Recruiting and retaining employees is quite expensive. Creating a reputation as a place that doesn't treat it's workers well only increases that cost. Not to mention the reputation risk with your customer base.

That’s a very disheartening attitude to have. These are still people with lives and feelings. We should expect humans to use the compassion and empathy that so very few other animals are capable of.

That must do wonders for the morale of any employees who stay.

"You're all still here for a reason. Eighty percent of this floor was just sent home. For ever. We have spent the last hour saying our goodbyes. They were good people, and they were good at their jobs, but you were better. Now they are gone. They are not to be thought of again. [...] I've been at this place for 34 years and I can tell you this is not be the last time you're going to go through this. But you all are survivors. And that is how this firm over 107 years has continued to grow stronger. So keep your heads high, get back to work."

Sam Rogers, Margin Call

I think if I was told something like this verbally or in email, my internal alarm bells would be going off. Or, being lionized for not being laid off after my coworkers were doesn't give me a sense of pride being at the company.

As context, I work in the video game industry, where developers have a bit of a history of doing unrealistic working schedules for "passion". When someone starts telling me how great I am with all this hardship in their company, I immediately get skeptical.

Very similar to a speech I heard by Dick Fuld