Tech & Biz

Layoffs: Interview with the Guy Who Fires People

by jordan | December 3, 2008 at 06:28 am

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CNET has an interview with a CEO who laid off 10% of his workforce, in order to show the other side of the wave of layoffs that is sweeping the tech industry.

Do they deserve our sympathy or our derision?

In most cases, the answer is neither. While there will always be an evil schemer or two out there, most executives who conduct layoffs realize they're cutting into their company's most valuable asset: the employees. Sure, it's a corporate cliche, but most of them do believe it.

We talked to the chief executive of a Web 2.0 company that recently axed a bit less than 10 percent of its workforce and asked him to walk us through the process. Not surprisingly, he did so on condition of anonymity.

It's hard to say what will happen next year. You take risks either way. We say we're doing this so we never have to do it again.

I don't actually believe the above statement, expecially in light of the fact that the layoffs executed at his particular company were based on projections, and not actual performance. A less chartiable view would be "he fired people because he got the jitters".

While it is indeed fascinating to see the other side of the story, I just can't feel bad for the guy who does the firing.

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Barbara Mathieson

at 07:25 on December 3rd, 2008

I worked for a national retailer once in the advertising department at the corporate office. There would be purges of staff periodically. Every time, after the workers were terminated, the human resource person in charge of laying them off, would get the boot.

When the retailer laid me off 11 years ago, I asked the HR pawn laying me off, "How can you do this all day?" as he was terminating 23 of us. He told me that he also got to hire people, too.

Eventually the company went out of business.

Barbara Mathieson

at 07:30 on December 3rd, 2008

Also, after experiencing company layoffs, I have found that it's almost better to be the employee laid off. When I remained with a company after others were terminated, I never felt secure. There was always a period of uncertainty. When I visited the advertising staff at the retailer who laid me off, the employees were envious of me. They were demoralized because they saw the company sinking further into the abyss.

Companies need to realize that the remaining employees are full of doubt and despair after layoffs.