Which criteria is used by large companies for mass layoff during downturn.
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Employees raised this question following the termination of 12,000 staff, despite making $17 billion in profits last quarter. Some were long-tenured or recently promoted – working on Cloud, Chrome, AI, and Area 120 units. CEO of search engine giant took full responsibility for lay off” and listed a FAQ which doesn’t give many details on the criteria of lay off.

A popular explanation is — “We overhired so layoff is inevitable to face recession” – But on what basis are employees picked and chosen to be laid off – because there is no definite pattern to explain the criteria. Employees flooded to “Dory” – Google’s question-asking platform, and set up virtual communities, to find which criteria were used for layoff. – Google did not immediately respond. 5000 laid-off employees started a “Discord” channel named “google post layoff” organizing virtual google meets and some physical meet-ups. A Google doc spreadsheet was created to keep track of who got laid off and why. Some valid questions were raised

  • How was the layoff decided? Some high performers got terminated
  • What metrics were used to determine who gets laid off?
  • Was the layoff decision based on performance, the scope of work, or both or something else?
  • What did the layoffs allow google to do that it could not have done without layoff?

– None of these questions had been officially addressed by Google yet. The questions remain unanswered.

However, by analyzing the pattern of layoffs across IT companies, we can conclude the following criteria to determine which employee goes off first during mass layoffs

  1. People who work at “nice-to-have” non-revenue-generating positions gets terminated while “need-to-have” revenue-generating positions are retained
  2. Roles, skills, and experience that align with the company’s changes ahead will be retained. When the company shifts goals, employees’ roles, and skills who don’t align get terminated
  3. During the talent mapping exercise, redundant positions and the skills that are outdated or in surplus supply will be identified – employees who fall in this bracket get terminated
  4. Soft skills do play a role. Qualities such as work ethic, teamwork, and flexibility coupled with communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills play a major role in deciding whether to be retained or not.
  5. People who can demonstrate the long-term growth of the company and thereby willing to take up additional tasks get retained – This is based on Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
  6. Members of non-product teams are at higher risk.
  7. Human capital metrics play a deciding factor – the value an employee adds to the company versus their salary expenses and personal ROI. Workers who make more but produce the same or less output than their lower-paid counterparts are at greater risk.

There is an open secret for you to follow – “Don’t miss company meetings and events” – It’s a mind game.

. You will be considered a highly engaging employee who’s seen as capable of producing better outcomes. When your company undergoes recession or job cuts – you will be seen as someone who’s more supportive during organizational shifts and resilient to face changes.