Layoffs every 2 years

I've done it.

I am happier. Literally one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I had all sort of dirt on my boss who was kissing ass to climb the corporate ladder

I had one where I had just spent like a year training my idiot boss on the systems, just for him to turn around and say I didn’t do anything, but during the exit interview he kept waving around a list of my shortcomings that was literally a blank page

That was the one where I was foolish enough to be willing to it in all sorts of crazy hours, I was willing to be the first one on, I was willing to be last one out, I was willing to also do his job of a daily status, but I finally drew a line at “and”. This was a startup where we all worked crazy hours - I felt I had to point out that I couldn’t physically do first in and last out: I’d get more sleep working overnight

I have heard several stories like this from my boss who worked at a previous place where he was asked to remove an entire team like you did. He says he will never forget it and is soul crushing. He tried his hardest to cut budgets and even found a few things were he was able to save the money and brought this to upper management where they had to break it to him that it didn't matter what was saved, that wasn't the point... people are just names on paper to them and if they decide this is what they want there is pretty much no stopping them. He then said he was there long enough after that where they realized it was an awful mistake and the work you get in return is not nearly as good as the original team you had so they had to hire new people back. It's a never ending cycle these days.

I also work in IT Healthcare! It's a brutal industry huh! Thankfully I have been with the same place for 19 years now, but it have witnessed it all. When I started we grew exponentially throwing money at everything, then the owner sold and I got to witness the "no changes expected" followed by everything changing. Then saw partners separate from us completely which was crazy work, and then the boom of covid followed by almost going belly up with massive layoffs for the past 2 years and consolidation of everything basically back to when I started in 2006!

I'm in the situation you're talking about right now. There's an upcoming restructuring and on paper, I've been able to reposition my teams so there's no job elimination and I've found homes for everyone. I'm actually excited about the plan. But I've been around the block enough to know that my plan on paper might not be accepted, and that this is just phase one. The funding to contract externally needs to come from somewhere. Laying off entire teams might be what causes me to finally put my own job on the chopping block to save a few others. I could go back to being a staff dev and it's potentially not even much of a pay cut. But damn do I love everything else about my job, but mental load of these decisions, even when I know they're the best ones I could make, is a lot.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Even if it seems insignificant, I know it must've been so hard to go through. That trauma is understandable and makes you human. I appreciate you sharing it.

I've thought about going into management too. I have 5 years in my industry. I could be manager next. But I've never been trained. Idk how to lead. Idk how to report progress, manage projects, delegate, answer questions I don't have the answers to. Lie to my employees and subordinates as to why they're average even if they're exceptional. Meets expectations, everyone gets that. So many new challenges id have to face I'm nervous about.

But then again I could just get laid off again after landing a manager job. Who knows? It's terrifying thinking about moving up

I left a trade job after we got a new division manager with a background in sales. Despite the entire staff being on 20hr/week mandatory overtime, dipshit was holding 3x daily 30 minute shift meetings, and monthly 90-minute all-hands meetings to complain about productivity.

Two months after I left, corporate shitcanned the asshole.

Same thing here, twice in 3 years. Stopped caring about companies, culture, all that bullshit. I'm there to do my job and clock out. 5 years I'd be devoted, work nights and weekends if I needed to, but now? Naw, fuck the companies. I do what I'm paid for. My time is my own. When I can be let go tomorrow for random cost cutting then why should I care about the well-being of the company?

Luckily I'm somewhere semi decent now, but I stay frosty. One thing is for sure, I'm 0 and 3 for private equity companies. Private equity is a red flag to anyone who doesn't own stock in it - and even if you do it's probably a short term gain before they tank it.

Yep. They'll demand loyalty from you, but not return it. The second a new CEO arrives, they'll want to show improvements on the bottom line. Fastest way to "save" money is to sack some people.

Unless you're in sales, you are a line item in a cost centre. Your salary is a dollar value they can save if they get rid of you.

HR exists to protect the org, not the individual people in it.

If you're looking for loyalty, get a dog.

I'm the CTO of my company and was just forced this week to downsize from 48 devs to 3... It was really hard. Telling everyone myself was even harder. Everyone was nice about it, understood it wasn't my choice, but you're impacting lives. To talk to someone having a normal day and then suddenly they're reeling and trying to think of how they'll survive.

I honestly think if our board has to be the ones to tell them it wouldn't even register for them. It would be like ordering food. The people at that level only see money.