Employees feel burned out after layoffs reduce staff
14 posts across 7 communities in the last 30 days; 36% from r/cscareerquestions.
“That's not how layoffs are done. They can be totally random [re: Tired working with unqualified colleagues, at the same time a lot of good candidates out there can't get hired]”
“We're had two waves of layoffs in the past two months, with no notice each time. Never any management always workers. They did this at the end of the day on a Friday, not even at work. They texted us about an hour after we got home. Corporate is coming Tuesday, I guess to gut…”
“Layoffs are like a CEO saying "I have a problem and the tools I have at my disposal are nuclear missile codes". Line managers who actually know wtf is going on on the ground are typically just as surprised about layoffs appearing on the news as the engineers, and shit eventually…”
Several posts describe a pattern of companies laying off employees and then increasing workloads on the remaining staff, leading to burnout. One post specifically mentions skeleton crews and unaddressed tasks, while another highlights slower processes and incomplete reviews due to reduced staffing levels. A third notes that this practice is widespread across industries.
SOURCES (56)
“That's not how layoffs are done. They can be totally random [re: Tired working with unqualified colleagues, at the same time a lot of good candidates out there can't get hired]”
“I think where I work there's going to be cuts over the next year. Maybe like 25% of people will be gone. How do you know if you're going to be laid of or put onto a different project though? submitted by /u/Big_Eggplant7591 [link] [comments]”
“We're had two waves of layoffs in the past two months, with no notice each time. Never any management always workers. They did this at the end of the day on a Friday, not even at work. They texted us about an hour after we got home. Corporate is coming Tuesday, I guess to gut the rest of the building. Everyone left is scrambling to get new jobs because we don't believe for a moment that we're gonna stay open. The fact the manager who had to get a dozen people to explain she can't”
“A couple years back, there was news of mass layoffs every week at tech companies, but I’m not seeing those news anymore. Has the layoffs slowed down? submitted by /u/Datsgood94 [link] [comments]”
“Just heard that my company gonna lay off people in 5-6 hours lmaoo submitted by /u/TemporaryLeek7172 [link] [comments]”
“My department cut 50% of staff (I'm not joking) and we're expected to have the same output. It's madness. [re: Does AI reduce workload and improve WLB?]”
“Has anyone heard about the second round layoffs Grant Thornton did last week? submitted by /u/FormalEscape5459 [link] [comments]”
“Not always. Having a candidate bench is necessary when a few open seats can put you out of business.”
“Hi, I keep seeing the same advice after every layoff wave. Learn more. Upskill. Learn AI. Become adaptable. Stay relevant. But sometimes I wonder if we're missing something. The same professionals being told to learn AI are often the people whose work is being automated by AI. You spend months learning a new skill, trying to stay ahead, trying to become "future proof". Meanwhile, companies are looking at something much simpler. How much does this work cost with people, and how much”
“Have layoffs been ramping up in the past month? I'm noticing on my LinkedIn a lot more back to back posts of layoffs in every industry. Are we all about to be twiddling our thumbs again like it's COVID? submitted by /u/Humble-Addition-4366 [link] [comments]”
“How many problems would be solved if corporations thought of the long term. They have no incentive to, the average CEO is only with a company two years.”
“That's not how this works. Companies don't make money by selling to their employees. It's you that doesn't understand fundamental economic implications. It's way too complicated to explain to you, perhaps an AI has the time but you probably lack the inclination.”
“Sorta what I was thinking. Usually the response to much of anything now is cuts, not adding people. Of course no one is even considering more money on actual tools or equipment, until they can replace us employees all together! Then they'll spring for the fancy model. Usually a second guy would make a lot of my BS work much easier, three more people and one wouldn't have enough to do, but it'd still make easier work.”
“Haha yeah. This happened recently. RTO announced for some departments. A couple months later 2000 people got made redundant.”
“Like, is it literally just “this lever is fast and boosts stock price a little bit let’s just pull that”? Do they really think that little? if I have a little lever that, when I pull it, grants me a small financial boost, you bet I'm going to pull it 100000 times a day, and not even by hand, I'd get AI to do it, and I might even deem that to be too slow that I'm going to design an entire system to analyze how to pull that lever as fast and as many times as possible”
“No, but layoffs are never about productivity, they’re always about saving money. What they say in the media is just spin to make investors happy. I doubt many even really feel bad about layoffs, most have either never been in the workforce at a level where they were directly affected by layoffs, or it was so long ago that they’ve forgotten what being a normal employee is like.”
“There’s so much arcane knowledge at every job I’ve been at, and usually just one or two people who know it that everyone on the team relies on. When they’re gone, then you gotta go through the headache of hiring someone for an often not very glamorous job that requires them training for a long time. The hiring takes a while and the training takes a while, so problems take longer to fix. People have less time to ship real features On a more human level, seeing layoffs constantly makes me less mot”
“Layoffs are like a CEO saying "I have a problem and the tools I have at my disposal are nuclear missile codes". Line managers who actually know wtf is going on on the ground are typically just as surprised about layoffs appearing on the news as the engineers, and shit eventually hits the fan when good people get axed and suddenly leave with a crap ton of the tribal knowledge”
“This profession is a meat grinder. Almost every company I’ve worked runs extremely lean and loses good employees regularly. It’s systemic and somehow profitable (In their minds). https://giphy.com/gifs/YXYxfxkrBFShRl6ii0”
“I'll use Oracle as an example, they bought us (Cerner) in 2022 when we had somewhere in the 25 to 30k range of employees. A lot have left or been laid off but a lot of us are still around. Imagine some of the others saw an uptick from acquisitions as well.”
“This. They want to humble the great resignation folks by doing routine layoffs and rehiring. Especially when the great resignation people got in when RSUs are cheap and now cost a ton thanks to stock rise. Rehire them at current prices RSU actually save the company a ton”
“you missed the point, the software engineer who worked at google also got laid off, stop focusing on the documentation and advocate people.”
“I am currently doing some on-boarding myself and the lack of support and direction has been shocking to me. Sorry to hear about layoff.”
“I’m a sales engineer in my 30s and feel I’m pretty set. Pretty technical, lots of experience, and sales is less replaceable in the short term. I do fear for my children…”
““You going to just post Fuck x everytime there is a layoff for any company?” Yes. “What does that do? Every single company does layoffs” Layoffs only happen because they raise the stock price a little. If they burned a company’s reputation instead, we would see less of them. So, Fuck PayPal.”
“Been part of three of these as an individual contributor. All three were private companies of 50-300 employees getting acquired by massive public companies. Every time it's like there's a hand book these companies follow of what changes first but I've learned (in a sales role) generally the first year goes untouched and you have the opportunity to do quite well. Then it's one thing changing after another and never in your favor. Currently experiencing where tooling and processes”
“Yup it used to be a great place to work; I remember going to the last picnic- which was a massive yearly event just for employees where they had like carnival rides and free food and families could hang out and enjoy themselves basically as a thank you for being part of the company. Well they stopped that- too expensive. Health insurance used to be top notch literally no caps on anything, well they stopped that too expensive. Rince repeat until youve shrunk into a raisin of your former glory.”
“They also lay off the bottom stack ranked employees. People managers know this and create scapegoats from good employees.”
“I’ve worked for at least three companies who practiced this in modern times. They don’t tell you, then you find out later some other person or team is working on your exact product.”
“Thanks. Of course I have considered it, but it’s just too disheartening, feeling like it’s pointless, companies are just going to find ways to outsource it, either cheap foreign labour or AI.”
“The mood shift after the first engineering layoff at Google was insane. 10 year L6s and L7s crying at their desks. The talent that didn’t eventually leave stopped giving a shit like they used to. Tho it’s hard to say how fast it happened, because as I understand it the leadership erosion had been happening since Sundar took the helm.”
“I am like you. And I'm working on this too. What I can say that's helped me is that when (not if) you burn out at this pace it will tank you. And you won't even care at the time. In order to be a good employee you MUST learn to uphold your boundaries for wlb even if you are tempted not to. Think of it like a faucet. You should do everything you can to get your queue empty but the pipes are still full of water when you turn it off. That's just how they work. It's not a failure”
“There aren't any jobs and companies save money with smaller staff that do the same level of work out of desperation.”
To do more with less. submitted by /u/cupholdery [link] [comments]
“Bull. Layoffs are certainly not arbitrary. When managers need to reduce their team size, they select the people who they can most easily live without. The converse is true of raises and promotions--The people who are producing the most will get the largest bumps. Is it possible to get laid off even if you are working hard? Sure. But to claim how hard you work has no bearing on your career prospects is just ludicrous.”
“...I gave this some actual thought. You need to say to those managers/owners/whatever something to the effect of: "We lost a lot of the people/resources we relied on to keep this place running to current, modern standards. Instead of spending time asking you for some of those resources back, I'm investing my time in learning AI tools that can replace some of the work those teams did for us." I think you were asking after some manager asked "what are you doing?" while you”
“There's a reason the people department is called Human Resources. You are a resource just like a printer is a resource. In my company we referred to people as HC (head count) and we traded them like cards: "I need 3 VueJS HS" Usually your manager is the only person who cares about you. Your manager's boss only cares about the people immediately under them.”
“It's just a way to do disguised layoffs when attrition is low tho. Give crappy raises -> people leave on their own. Layoff = bad publicity + severance etc.”
“The job market is an absolute dumpster fire. Companies are laying off people at free will to boost their bottom line and profiting at a historical rate. Workers are fed up low wages while over burden with tasks and being under staffed. It's is 100% an employer's market. People with a plethora of experience are taking pay cuts for entry level roles due to limited roles with high salaries. There are more desperate workers than open roles at the moment. Huge inequality in rising cost of liv”
“I’m experiencing something at work that has become genuinely exhausting and scary. For the past two years, my company has been laying off employees while continuing to hire new people. From what many of us can see, it feels less like restructuring and more like gradually replacing older employees while carefully controlling the narrative and protecting the company’s image. Almost every month, it seems like there is a target: two or three employees. The reasons often feel random, vague, or sudden”
“I worked for one of CBIZ's sister companies for a few years back years ago. They were soulless then, too.”
“I see it everywhere where I work - processes are getting slower. It takes longer to get things done. Reviews aren't thorough. Tasks are left unaddressed. Why? Because we are all working on a skeleton crew. Just like many other companies out there. Why? Because you laid off so many fucking people. Why? So the owners/major stockholders can buy another yacht, or a 4th house, or splurge on research (AI). This not only hurts the ones laid off but it's burning employees out even faster. I'”
“Every book that gets scanned disappears from the physical world permanently. The knowledge survives only as training data inside a system no one can hold, browse, or resell. What used to sit on a shelf for centuries now exists as weights in a model that might get deprecated next quarter. This is called Project Panama. submitted by /u/bookflow [link] [comments]”