I mean I don't understand the big announcement in the first place; with a company that large, reducing staff count by 10K can be done organically, simply by not hiring replacements.
Which makes me think of two things; one, they want to get rid of very specific people, people who wouldn't quit on their own. And two, that they can't just reduce staff count without an announcement, because staff count is one of those metrics that shareholders use to determine whether they're staying, buying or selling stocks.
A quiet reduction of staff? They can't hire people anymore, this is bad, I should sell my stocks!
A round of layoffs? They're cutting costs, which will be good for profits, I should buy more! Or sell because I've lost confidence.
Honestly, the stock market and shareholders are not rational.
The announcement itself has an "if-by-whiskey" feel to it. On the one hand, they claim to be "aligning cost structure with revenue". On the other hand, they also claim to be investing in "strategic areas for our future". It tries to spin it in a way that appeals to both value and growth investors respectively.
Some low performing employees just wont leave on their own. Sometimes its the higher performers who feel they deserve more compensation and leave. With your proposal the company could end up with only the low performers which is the opposite intent of a layoff
How does that analogy work? Traditionally salt is very valuable. It was even used as payment/money at times (worth your salt). You can preserve food with it. It gives food flavor (if you've ever accidentally omitted salt from baked goods, like bread and cookies, you know how terrible things taste without salt).
Maybe some of them can add some expertise to help ReactOS[0]. :-)
(Yes, I know about copyright law and taint, but there is an awful lot to be done which isn't specifically commiting code to the main project. Unit tests, debugging, porting other software, create a startup for embedded "Windows" deployed with ReactOS with free licensing etc.)
Whereas with firing everyone's success is now tied to how well they can lie to higher management.
THE Recipe for success, that is.
It doesn't even make sense. They're going to fire 10k people. The result? A 1.2 BILLION charge. Firing these people costs them 120000$ per person. And with that, their personnel cost won't drop until end of Q3 + let's say 2 months, so let's call it 2024. They could have let each of these employees do nothing until 2025 for the same amount of money!
They will definitely hire 20k people by 2025 too. It just seems to awkward and stupid.
Layoffs over a certain size in a location have to be announced legally, WARN act I think is the name.
Usually reductions in staff are well received by Wall Street because operating expenses should be reduced. I think there's a joke about a CEO saying "oh stocks down, time for layoffs!"
I hate it when head honchoes try and get cozy with you by signing off with their First Name only --way to take the name away from anyone else in the company with the same name. 99% of the people in a large company like that never met you and don't know you on a first-name basis.
It's an attempted mind fuck to disguise the true power dynamic. If they say "we're making cuts, you're done. Leave your laptop on your desk and clear off", it's clear what the power dynamic is.
Instead they present themselves as your friend. Even if you don't believe it, social norms dictate that in general you act like you do. Like Zizek says, "fuck you, you're a boss, act like it!". Then you're unsure of what's happening. Do they really feel bad? Maybe they're trying their best, maybe they really care about me personally.
It's same with all this corporate-speech that's been emerging recently. They're not your family, they're not your friends, and if it comes to it they will fist you so hard you'll be tasting their perfectly-manicured nails.
I think it's very important to always have this in mind and not to tie up your identity with your work. You are a line item on a spreadsheet somewhere to them, nothing more. If you start believing otherwise you are setting yourself up for mental health problems when your use runs out and they kick you to the kerb.
Which makes me think of two things; one, they want to get rid of very specific people, people who wouldn't quit on their own. And two, that they can't just reduce staff count without an announcement, because staff count is one of those metrics that shareholders use to determine whether they're staying, buying or selling stocks.
A quiet reduction of staff? They can't hire people anymore, this is bad, I should sell my stocks!
A round of layoffs? They're cutting costs, which will be good for profits, I should buy more! Or sell because I've lost confidence.
Honestly, the stock market and shareholders are not rational.