[causality0]

The last few years have been very capital-rich and interest-low. In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off. If you don't lay people off in the bad times you can't hire them in the good times. Disney is evil for many, many reasons, but laying off three percent of their workforce when interest rates go through the roof and they're in a cold war with a lunatic governor is not one of them.

[snozolli]

In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off.

This sort of MBA-logic, algorithmic approach to business is why American corporate life is so terrible.

Let's see some vision and leadership for a change. Instead, we get endless cycles of resume-padding for management and scapegoating for the people creating the business value.

[bhhaskin]

It's pretty simple math. Vision and leadership doesn't alter the reality.

If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it.

[akersten]

> If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it.

One economist says to the other, "look, there's $20 on the ground!" The first replies, "nonsense, if there were, someone would have picked it up already!"

[runesofdoom]

>If there was a better way to do things companies would be doing it.

Only if it involved short-term profit for those making the decisions on how to do it. Which is the problem in the first place.

[Pulcinella]

If it’s simple math then why hasn’t e.g. Apple mass fired people?

[lastofthemojito]

This has been discussed a ton. They didn't grow as quickly (overhire) over the past few years as many of the other tech companies. See:

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/01/22/apple-avoiding-...

https://fortune.com/2023/02/10/apple-avoided-tech-layoff-rus...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/01/27/how-apple-...

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/apple-had-slower-headcount-g...

...

[juve1996]

Which really illustrates the point - smart, sustainable business model, vs the pump and dump.

[bhhaskin]

They have been laying people off. Just slowly and have managed to keep it out of the news. Lots of contractors.

[jzb]

This attitude needs to stop. We have normalized treating people like machines that can just be turned off and on at a whim.

Sometimes a layoff is necessary, but we have gotten to a point where it’s just a normalized no foul action that actually raises stock prices instead of being seen as a failure of leadership.

Maybe Disney couldn’t prevent these layoffs. I don’t really think that their current struggle with DeSantis is what’s behind this.

For the record, they had a profitable year last year ($28 billion profit), and the year before that.

People keep talking about layoffs like they are no big deal and people just have a bad week or two and then have another job and everything is just fine. We’re talking about a country where people’s healthcare is tied to their employer. Where many people are living paycheck to paycheck or don’t have savings enough to whether a prolonged unemployment.

People really need to stop acting like layoffs are no big thing and we should all just accept them without complaint as seasonal inconveniences.

[fnimick]

> This attitude needs to stop. We have normalized treating people like machines that can just be turned off and on at a whim.

Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of all the money that just got made by treating employees as disposable.

Any profit-driven company would literally feed its employees into a meat grinder if it were not illegal and it made the stock price or valuation go up. "Ethical" concerns that don't increase profit might not as well exist.

[jzb]

"Any profit-driven company would literally feed its employees into a meat grinder if it were not illegal and it made the stock price or valuation go up."

This is uncomfortably true, at least for too many companies.

Unfortunately, though, our society lets them get away with it. Too many people are willing to just shrug and say "that's business" and act like there's simply no other way to be.

[marcosdumay]

Yeah... Investors should wise-up to top top management that specialize in destroying every form of non-tangible capital for short term gains, banking in a commission, and moving to a healthier company.

But well, in practice "investor" is really a name for powerless people whose money is managed by those same people applying the con. So I don't think they will wise-up any soon.

[themitigating]

You're ignoring that people may be able to get other jobs while employed so treating people well is a part of it.

[JKCalhoun]

> In that environment you hire. When the capital dries up and interest rises you lay off. If you don't lay people off in the bad times you can't hire them in the good times.

Imagine if it were reversed.

In that environment you strike and demand higher wages. If you don't demand better wages in good times you won't have a decent salary in bad times.

[yieldcrv]

Dont need the company controlled public servants to run their fiefdom anymore