
Ask HN: Do managers really not know about upcoming layoffs? - cryptozeus
One of our company branch got a mass layoff with 80% employees gone due to merger. Some of the middle and upper management was shocked and told us that they really didn’t know. I am not buying it as some of the people who remained in the company clearly has influence and selection of layoff seems biased towards certain employees.<p>Can HN managers throw some light on this ?
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AnimalMuppet
Some stories:

Layoff 1: The manager knew in advance, and couldn't tell us. But rumors were
flying. In a team meeting on Friday, someone asked about the layoff rumors.
She specifically said, "I can't say". Someone alertly asked "Can't say, or
don't know?" She replied, "I can't say." So we all knew. Most of us got laid
off on Monday morning.

Layoff 2: I was feeling uneasy. I walked into my boss's office, closed the
door, and asked, "If you were in my shoes, would you have your resume on the
street?" He said, "No, I think you'll be fine." The next day _he_ got laid
off. I didn't. He pretty much knew it was going to go down that way.

Layoff 3: My boss knew it was coming, because he walked past a meeting room
that contained what he described as "an odd collection of managers" \- and not
him. From that, he surmised that there was a layoff coming, that they were
figuring out who to lay off, and that, since he wasn't in the room, it was
going to get him. He still didn't tell us beforehand.

So in all three cases, the managers knew or could make a pretty good guess.

And, one bonus story that didn't happen to me: I have heard of a legendary
layoff at Evans & Sutherland. They laid of some managers, and some team
members, but not every team member of the laid-off managers. And they botched
it by first laying off the managers. Then, when it came to the workers, some
of them didn't have managers to do the layoff. So IT logged everyone off of
the network. If you could log back in, you still had a job. If they had killed
your account, you were laid off.

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PragmaticPulp
There is no one, single playbook for layoffs. You can't assume anything.

If you're losing 80% of employees, that's more than a layoff. That's a severe
restructuring of the entire business.

Your managers very well might not have been informed until the last minute.
These things are best handled all at once, rather than slowly leaking
information out to different levels of employees over time.

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mdorazio
It's very possible they're telling the truth. Mass layoffs tend to be
discussed only at the senior executive levels and within HR with strict
instructions not to communicate downward, mostly for legal and anti-disruption
reasons. Middle managers often only find out very slightly before their
employees do. Of course, there will always be well-connected employees who
hear of things ahead of time.

