DylanIt’s become almost daily tech news; Company X laid off Y-thousand people. Although layoffs are part of the employment cycle and many companies are now “rightsizing” (I hate this term btw) based on over or incorrect hiring early in the pandemic, the way in which these layoffs seem to be happening is not, in my view, okay. Very few details seem to be coming out about Microsoft, Salesforce and others but there has been lots of coverage of the mechanical way that Alphabet cut its workforce. I touched on it briefly in a LinkedIn post the week it happened but as I continue to read and think about it, I felt I had more to say.
For those not aware, Google/Alphabet let go 12,000 people via what looks a lot like automation. People were working or getting up or traveling for work, and, when they went to log into their workspace, were greeted by a message that their access was gone and their job had been eliminated. There was no initial human contact, nothing in the way of any compassion, just a bot-driven form letter and instant lock-out. Alphabet has said it was impossible to do it a different way because of the number of people at all levels of the organization but, when you employ some of the smartest people in the world, I can’t believe you can’t come up with something better.
Do you remember the days when Google had the motto “Don’t be evil”? Such a simple statement that seemed so refreshing in a world of corporate slogans that don’t come anywhere close to being followed. Perhaps it was the naivety of the dot com era or just an innocence in general around tech companies but this motto built trust with people at the time. When Google restructured and became Alphabet, or perhaps before, the motto became “Do the right thing.” With the recent layoff this certainly seems like just words on paper now.
Although I’m writing about the manner in which Alphabet let people go and the mechanical way in which it was done, I will commend them for the severance package (although making it public in a letter from Sundar Pichai makes it about “look what we’re doing”). The package includes a pretty generous pay-out with a 16 week minimum as well as job placement, etc support. Giving Alphabet the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume that this package was about caring for their employees, and not to manage public perception, although I think public perception factored in.
I’m picking on Alphabet here but the fact that this was something that could be done speaks to a larger problem around how big corporations think they can treat people. It is a massive undertaking to downsize a number of people equal to the population of a large town. In the past, the approach of everyone joining a call and being told they were done has also been criticized but this is, in my opinion, better than the lock-them-out approach Alphabet and others have taken.
I don’t know what the answer to a massive, simultaneous lay-off is, but we should expect better. The corporations we work for should be held to a higher standard. Some of us will be in leadership roles (or already are) that can impact how this happens in the future. If you are a leader, then this is your chance to challenge the status quo, to speak up, and say that this isn’t acceptable. Have a better plan, a way to soften the blow, or at least treat people with a level of respect as their lives are upended.
What’s your thoughts on these giant layoffs? Do you have a suggestion on how to conduct them with some humanity? Can you be personal and show caring, 12,000 people at a time?
