American Corporate layoffs - a game of sorts, Do you know how to play?
Did you know that US Corporations are required to report layoffs of over 500 employees? Seems straight forward, no gimmicks, no games. Ha, that is where you are WRONG. Corporations don't want to tarnish their turd image, any further, so they do everything, but tell you the outright facts when it comes to layoffs. An obvious trick is perform layoffs well below the 500 level. 100 here, 100 there, no biggie. What happens when you need to cull 20-30K employees? In this case time and money work against you, you need them off the payroll and quickly.
Layoffs are also known as Reduction In Force (RIF), AKA Pink Slips, Redundancy, Furlough, Downsized, Managed Out, Discharge, Shake-up
Street jargon for layoff - Axe, released, sacked, replaced, let go. You get the picture, lots of names for the disgusting feeling of losing your income stream.
Current Tactics:
RTO (Return to Office) yep you guessed this wolf in sheep's clothes, RTO is designed to get you back so they can watch you. Does that mean they watch you work? Recall during CV-19 everyone all over the planet was told to stay and work from home. In the early days of unlocking madness US Corporations were silently spending money retro-fitting Office and Cubical area to the new 'Hotel system'. Then you schedule time at this cubical and work, talk about gross you don't know who or what was going on in their prior to your arrival or when the last time that was wiped down. I digress, sorry I got grossed out. So, now US Corporations who are laden with excessive layers of management and new IT tools to monitor employee's can't seem to be bothered by checking in on their employees or excuse me staff oh I mean associates. Seems like management is the problem? But that is a topic for another Blog.
How I see this RTO stuff being sent out: Upper Management sends out this stern letter from in-house counsel that lines out how the corporation is protecting itself and you have a limited time to move close to your designated new 'hub' office and report for duty. It would be logical to be assigned to the local hub but no logic is applied. If you live in NJ you might be asked to relocate to Cali or Miami. The rational is easy no moving and living packages will be handed out so the move is on you. No cost of living adjustment would be applied. Well, I envision the recent rise in new variants of CV-19 will put a big damper on those plans. Ah, you moved to be close to a new hub. So sorry, I can't do anything to help you. Did you see it? They want to force you to quit so they don't have to lay you off nor pay a severance package. Less outbound cash hit to the bottom line (cash preservation). Another form of managing you out! Talk about stressful for the employee and their family.
Do you desire to review that info without the Government diluting that info further? Check here: Job Layoffs or here for NFP Non-Farm Payrolls
Corporate Signs to Watch for: (not intended to be fully inclusive list just some I have lived through)
- Layoff of key resources which leads to other key talent fleeing
- Corporate motivation being sent out ensuring everyone everyhing is just fine!
- Not investing in R&D and those key areas providing future growth and longevity to a firm
- Trust your Gut... that feeling you have that something is wrong
- Declining overall morale of employees
- People being fired for associating with unionizing efforts.
So, IF investors are relying on good solid data why isn't the SEC cracking down on these terrible practices? Must be something here because its being ignored bigtime!
Summary - take stock of your skills and invest in yourself! Stay tuned into the news and your personal network for cues. Ensure your Resume/CV is up to date!
Credits - Blog Pic from Jagranjosh.com
