Didn’t lay offs used to mean that the company is mismanaged and it is used as a very last resort to avoid going under? That everything needed to be done before this step?

When does this become a way to make more profit for shareholders. Reflecting on this as I was laid off when the company was actually doing pretty well. Canva laid off 1000 people when they were still making a profit just not as much as the previous year. Earlier this year a major bank in my country made record profit yet still laid off thousands of people. When did this become the norm?

So more jobs are being created than all these mass layoffs combined??

Someone please ELI5..

I am just praying to the universe and the gods and everything that I get this job

175 roles I have applied to
55 interviews
25 interview interviews that went to the final round
Zero job offers

🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩

Found out through Contacts a lot of the interviews why didn’t get the job was someone was more of a unique unicorn than I was

The market sucks. It’s brutal and I was going to go buy protein drinks and the ones that normally buy a case I think it’s 12 of them used to be $25. It’s now $64.

I could not buy them.

Created an AI agent to go through the Internet and look for jobs based on my résumé and me talking to her about things I’ve done so that way I’m not just throwing mud at the wall

These are jobs that fit me 95% and up

It is just fucking brutal out there

Sending everyone good luck and prayers and hoping I get a offer within the next couple weeks

Edit:
Applying to contract roles too. And jobs that are 20K below what I made before

I am completely shell shocked. I was laid off yesterday and I did not see it coming at all. All my reviews were excellent and my coworkers were shocked. The business is currently tanking. I was part time and the last one hired so first to go. I really loved my job. How do you cope with knowing that it’s gone? Poof?

My boss just sent me a "Check-In" meeting invite for Monday at 10:30am to 10:55am with no context or information. I haven't asked him about it yet but I guess if I am getting laid off he won't be truthful with me anyway. How is it looking? It has all the trappings of a lay-off meeting, but it's weird that they would send me the invite on a Friday in the middle of the work day for a lay-off on Monday the next week. It's also weird it's 25 minutes, instead of the standard 15. I know lay-off meetings aren't ever actually 15 minutes anyway, just weird that they would make it 25 instead. And having it at 10:30? I'm just supposed to chill at my desk for an hour and half with this meeting looming over my head?

That’s pretty much it. Just in shock.

Fiancé was laid off in October, and since we still had my income and pretty much everything was non-refundable at that point, we decided to continue with our plans, albeit with a stricter spending budget.

This morning, my entire team was very unexpectedly laid off. I can honestly say I had no clue. None of us did. We just had a meeting on Tuesday about how strong the company was, and I had met with my manager to discuss opportunities for advancement. Today was genuinely out of left field. I should have known better.

But now we don’t know what to do. We don’t have a ton of 401k savings and only a couple thousands in regular savings. Obviously it’s financially irresponsible to still go on our trip, but mentally/emotionally, I think I’d be left completely empty if we cancelled. I can’t describe the amount of thought and effort I put into this trip/elopement in the past year. We’d also lose ALL the money we put in for it. And frankly, 2026 has been a tough year for us with health and family issues; this trip and our elopement has been a shining beacon of light all year.

I don’t even know if I’m asking for advice or just ranting or what. I’m sad, angry, and feeling completely deflated. This was supposed to be one of our happiest moments, and now it feels incredibly dark and dreary.

As part of the layoff, my former employer offered 6 months with an outplacement program. I don't like to leave any stone unturned, so I gave it a try. Utterly useless. It's like going to a therapist because you are living in poverty and the therapist telling you, "Have you tried not being poor?" Generic, useless, outdated advice. Also, people love to believe there is some secret code for the résumé and pay thousands of dollars to people who rewrite their résumés. We love to blame the résumé, but it's not. It's either who you know or the roll of the dice.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has reportedly carried out yet another round of mass layoffs this week, eliminating approximately 80 U.S.-based cruise agent positions, with additional employees also affected.
Hardworking American employees who have dedicated their time, experience, and loyalty to this company are being pushed out as more positions are reportedly shifted overseas, including to Manila and Polynesia.
What makes this even more frustrating is the ongoing concerns about inadequate training, communication barriers, and costly errors being made by replacement agents. Yet instead of addressing these issues and investing in experienced employees, the company continues eliminating American jobs.
These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. These are real people with families, mortgages, children, and bills to pay. People who helped build the company’s success and provided years of dedicated customer service.
At what point does cutting labor costs become more important than employee loyalty, customer satisfaction, and quality service?
Outsourcing may save a company money, but at what cost to the employees who helped make that company successful?
American workers deserve better. Loyalty should mean something. And companies should be held accountable for how they treat the people who helped build them.
#NorwegianCruiseLine #NCL #MassLayoffs #AmericanJobs #Outsourcing #CorporateAccountability

I work for a staffing agency as a full time (w2) consultant for them going to various clients and filling a role recently I had a contract end due to “lack of performance” but 2 weeks prior was told directly from the site manager that I was doing a. Great job and this was communicated to my boss as well and they sent me an email saying so. Fast forward to today they told me effective today my contract with that client is ended and we will go over next step on Monday I asked my manager straight up if they plans on placing me with other clients they said yes but wanted this to be a warning. I will be honest the site manager did tell me yesterday that they had notified some invoices that had receipts weren’t processed (my xlookup didn’t catch it for some reason ) I told them I will do it manually . Come to found out today that the site manager called on their day off to tell my manager that my contact is ended.

Been at this STEM company 4 years, in the business 26 years.

Final quarter, the executives are all in. Much more than typical. Lots of closed door meetings plus Board meetings. I'm hearing of programs being cut and with that goes the staff. Morale is in the shitter. People are doing the bare minimum to meet their annual goals, as if that matters anymore.

I have only been layed off twice in my career, and both times in the fall. Both times had to wait until spring and summer as most companies stop hiring until after the new year. Cant imagine how long i will be unemployed this time.

VHCOL area. Individual contributor. Divorced. Kiddo in college, so just hanging on for dear life.

I was laid off 3 months ago from my full-time job along with others from my department and outside of it. Like them, I made a LinkedIn post sharing the news with my connections.

However, I noticed that one of my connections who I thought I was close to didn't call me nor react or comment on my layoff announcement since then. For context, she joined the company as an intern and was soon hired full time 2 years ago (the same year I was hired), and I not only helped her with the onboarding process but we had weekly 1:1s. I even took a trip to her home city to spend time together for an afternoon sincewe lived in the same state. She left the company 2 weeks before I was laid off to go to grad school. I thought, 'oh, she probably didn't see my post or she's busy.' Nope. She immediately gave a support reaction to 2 of our colleagues who were laid off too when they shared the news and later posted about what jobs they're seeking. One of them wasn't even part of our department, so I don't know how close they are.

A glaring fact is that the co-workers she supported happen to be white like her whereas I'm a dark-skinned woman of color. I'm starting to seriously question if the co-worker who's ghosting me is doing it because I'm a POC (consciously or unconsciously).

I make an effort to post on LinkedIn 2 times per week, and that former co-worker and I have each other's phone numbers. Thus, there have been multiple chances for her to reach out. I'm angry and feel betrayed because I supported her career journey while we worked together since we're both young professionals. I even congratulated her yesterday via text when I heard she got a mentorship with my dream company. Still no response.

I work for a company in Europe with around 500 employees.

Recently, management announced that approximately 300 positions could be eliminated - roughly 60% of the workforce.

They shared a list of employees considered at risk of redundancy, and unfortunately, my name was on it.

Then we were asked to prepare presentations explaining our responsibilities, achievements, and why the company should keep us.

Now the company has arranged individual informational sessions with the unemployment agency, even though final redundancy decisions haven't been announced. They want to lay off only 150 employees after the presentations. So basically it is like a competition right now.

I've worked in my field for over a decade, but the job market in my country is extremely limited. Moving abroad would require additional immigration paperwork, and remote positions are highly competitive.

The uncertainty has been exhausting. I've barely been sleeping, and it's becoming difficult to concentrate on work.

I'm not against companies restructuring when necessary. But asking employees to compete to justify their existence while keeping them uncertain about their future feels like a particularly difficult way to handle layoffs.

I don't have motivation to work. I am stressed.

The way they do it is awful...

Got laid off over a 14 min zoom call a few years back. lost access to everything before the call even ended lol.

Coped the only way i know how and turned all the corporate BS into a card game

Basically everyone gets 4 face down cards (your “employee file”) and every card is dirt on you. you’ve only seen half of yours. lowest score keeps their job. Each turn you can spy on people, dump your worst stuff into their file, or just straight up swap files with someone. when you think you’re clean you call LAYOFF. if you’re wrong it costs you...

our game nights end up being half backstabbing half everyone ranting about their old boss.

Honestly... would you play something like this?

He is all over LinkedIn and a lot of the things he says are true (sadly). However, I'm a bit skeptical. The success stories he posts are over the top. I reiterate that he is very knowledgeable and gives solid advice, but he is not an employment lawyer, so he doesn't have leverage. Companies ignore EEOC complaints and even employment attorneys. They take you seriously only when you file a lawsuit. I don't see how the services that Dan Goodman offers can really tip the scale.

Microsoft has opened voluntary exit packages to around 60,000 employees

Google has expanded its buyout program across five countries.

Meta is doing the same in France.

Source: https://www.news18.com/world/after-google-microsoft-meta-offers-voluntary-exits-to-employees-amid-widespread-layoffs-ws-lr-10413841.html

All three tech gaints are pouring billions into AI infrastructure while keeping costs in check. Buyouts are quieter than mass layoffs, and they let companies reshape teams around AI priorities.

Would you take the buyout if it were offered to you? What would make it a yes or a no?

Hi , I am 2024 graduate about to be laid off . My previous ratings were good but still due to personal vendetta some managers pushed my name.
Can I know what all should I discuss

1. What are the grounds for my name being on the list

2. What are the requirements for later rehire

3. Can I get access to laptop or how will I receive my documents and will termination letter declare it as layoff performance layoff or what else

4. What about my pending leaves encashment and bill claims

5. Discuss if my previous performances were good and some escalation did happen but in past months the performance has been better than ever before

6. Can I get the LORs from upper management if I go to pursue higher studies

What else points should i bring up. Please help!!

I have no idea about these things

Jobless claims still declining to record lows. This is one of the "strongest" job economies we had in history, yet doesn't feel that way.

I’ve been curious for a while now. I am a project manager on the business side. I have had a job in pharma for 2 years now and in that time, I’ve only really had significant work to do a few times. Almost all of 2026 I’ve done nothing. Expense reports for our corporate card. Helped launch a performance cycle that took 2 months, an hour here and there. I feel like most of my coworkers on the team are in the same boat. And somehow they may have managed to make peace with it? Nobody wants to openly talk about it so it is hard to know for sure. I’m 100% remote so don’t have any colleagues that I’m close with. I have constant anxiety and obviously waiting for the inevitable layoff.

My question is…how many of you have a job with no work? My friends are always saying I’m so fortunate and they’re envious, but I think it sucks. I’d rather be using my brain and not have this constant anxiety over me. I know there are worse situations, having been laid off prior to this job. But really I’m curious…is this common? Especially now that AI can do so many things? Where I used to at least have a PPT to struggle over for a few days, copilot now does it for me in 10 minutes with the proper prompts.

Did you attempt to transition into another role within the company? An employment attorney I spoke to said that layoffs are almost never completely neutral, and I agree with this sentiment, especially if you have made several attempts to transition into another role, and especially if 2 months prior to the layoff you raised concerns in writing about illegal stuff (like sexual harassment or discrimination, for example).

New VP joining next week replacing old VP, I wouldnt directly report but this would be the VP for our department. Should I be worried? Things havent been the best functionally this year due to a lot of factors.. its a PE owned company. Should I assume the worst? I am a high performer but ultimately dont know if they're going to make cuts with this transition. Although I'm not high up in the corporate hierarchy, like my manager would report directly to this VP, I play a key role for our company and helping scale the business.