Fired?

I’ve worked in tech or tech-adjacent for close to 25 years, so the specter of layoffs lurks in my peripheral vision like a mean ghost. I held my breath during the big tech layoffs a couple of years ago. Would I be next?

I’ve been laid off five times before, but I’ve always known those layoffs were not about me. It was about a business decision, a cash flow problem, a matter of paring down to bare essentials to survive economic downturns. It was never because of anything I did or didn’t do.

During the pandemic-fueled downsizings, my current employer assured us they do not cut staff to cut costs. They plan for downturns and find other ways to weather the storm. I had just been part of a $12B acquisition, and I felt nervous but safe.

When no one expected anything major to happen at work this past Wednesday, we got an early morning email that would also go out to the press. To pivot to more work around generative AI, 1,800—or ten percent—of our staff were being cut. We would lay off 1,800 people but hire 1,800 better people.

The announcement tells us that this is not a cost-cutting measure. In fact, we expect to spend even more in our next fiscal year. It also tells us that 1,050 of those being cut are considered to be “underperforming.”

Even if this were true—which is subjective but, in my opinion, inaccurate—it is absolutely unnecessary to include this tidbit in communications. People who are laid off already feel demoralized. Why add to it by essentially calling them worthless in public?

Any company with over 1,000 underperforming employees would naturally be seen as grossly mismanaged. Are you hiring the wrong people? Setting unclear expectations? Failing to coach or upskill those who need to do better? This announcement hurts public confidence and likely drives down the stock price. This isn’t even good capitalism.

I still have a job as one of the 90% who have “performed” enough. Those of us left behind are dealing with confusion, distrust, and our own form of demoralization. If talented, hard workers can be labeled as “underperforming,” it feels like we’re in a rigged game.

I refuse to get caught up in this game. I will never look at my colleagues as my competition. If someone outperforms me, good for them. I will cheer them on and celebrate their wins, even if that means they fill the quota for high performers and I’m left at risk of banishment. If someone is struggling, I will try to help them succeed.

Microsoft abandoned this “rank and yank” style of performance reviews when Satya Nadella came on as CEO. He saw that the toxic work culture was hurting the business and changed the policy. My current employer could stand to take a page out of the new Microsoft handbook rather than re-hashing the mistakes of the old one.

I’m angry about how this was handled, but I’m still employed. I have to find a way to reconcile the cognitive dissonance of working for an employer that does this. If I stay in this job, it is a choice.

Life is full of circumstances I cannot control or even influence. This mass layoff is one of those circumstances. As if the universe needed to prove something, another circumstance appeared in the middle of the night.

Fire!

I don’t know what woke us up, but my husband and I were awake and puzzled over the red light around the edges of our blackout shades early Saturday morning. He thought it might be a very quiet party on the deck of the apartment next door. I thought it might be a wild red sunrise.

He pulled up the shade, and we were greeted by a tower of flames. Someone had set the construction site at the end of our block on fire. Given the intensity of the fire, there must have been some kind of accelerant involved.

There have been increasing incidents of arson at construction sites around Seattle. I don’t know if this is anti-gentrification activism or hooligans with lighter fluid. In this case, the target was a complex under construction by a nonprofit that supports youth soccer programs in underserved communities. So, whoever lit it up is a jerk.

The fire melted several cars, destroyed electrical and internet cables, and spread to the house next door. The occupants made it out safely, but they are now homeless. We are a half-block away, but the heat caused our exterior window seals to warp and peel.

I am shaken up and having trouble sleeping, but I’m ultimately unscathed. I still have my job; I still have my home. My distress is a result of choices other people have made. When people make choices that cause harm, that harm spreads to even innocent bystanders. I wish people would make kinder choices.

You don’t have to use harsh management techniques or burn down buildings to get your point across.