Why should he face consequences? Instead he should focus on learning from the mistake so that the company can try to avoid making the same mistake again. Punishing him isn't going to solve any of the company's problems.
The blunt truth is that layoffs are not really failures from a business perspective. Employees and their employment don't really matter independent of other things. Could be the symptom of a mistake or could just be a failed bet but that's all. It's just a question of risk, reward and cost. Not a question of people. If the layoffs targets low performing employees or departments then it's actually a business win.
If you don't like that then consider pushing for unions, government regulations or join an employee co-op. However many people don't like that option because they prefer to not risk the massive compensation packages that big tech gives them.
I'm reminded of the Street Fighter quote:
"For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me... it was Tuesday."
One miscalculation can result in them over hiring. Are you suggesting they should have instead every month lay off a few people depending on how the current environment looks instead of 28% at once?
Sure it is. Google for example increased headcount by 24% in a year and cut it 6% in the next year, a clear sign they made a bad decision.
Further in Google’s case they have plenty of money to pay these people until headcount naturally shrinks, but they don’t have anything useful enough for them to do that waiting and avoiding a large severance package is cheaper.
I just do not believe in a worldview where almost all CEOs of large tech companies are incompetent. Whatever the explanation for layoffs is, incompetence ain't it.
No I am suggesting that they clearly over hired over a long period of time. Surely they recalculated over that period of time...if not then that sums the incompetence up
Yeah, if I was on one of the core teams I'd be quite annoyed at having given a big chunk of my time bringing coworkers on board just to see them laid off.
You're right. The deeper issue here is that we do not live in a meritocracy. People are frustrated. Digging into why the CEO gets another chance eventually leads us to these larger societal issues.