You can find it here: Downsizing.2022 style</p>
In case you are blocked by the firewall, here is what I wrote:
It is never a good time to get laid-off, the shock of being fired is traumatic. It is probably not assuaged by knowing that 10,000 others are being laid off at the same time, though it may be comforting to know that you are being forced into a labor market with a 3.5% unemployment rate as opposed to the 6% rate of the early 1990's when downsizing became the managerial fad of the day. For those laid off by firms in the high technology industries (Amazon, Facebook (META), Microsoft. It is also good to know that there is great demand for high technology workers in low technology firms as they adjust to the new realities of an on-line economy
In the 1990's when the first waves of downsizing occurred, it was clear that not many firms enjoyed the long term cost reductions that motivated lay-off in the first place – one estimate (Wyatt Company, now Watson-Wyatt) suggested that about 25% of downsizing forms benefitted. This because firms went about it by across the board cuts which are less effective than targeted cuts and by failing to consult employees which led to a failure to understand where the flab in the company ended and where bone and muscle began.
With such a low success rate, firms should consider alternatives before choosing layoffs: reduce or eliminate bonuses; in these post-pandemic days, reduce facilities costs by moving to at home work; and temporarily cut hours and cut wages and allow permanent downsizing to occur over time through attrition. This is much less disruptive to the firm which might otherwise suffer loss of important tacit knowledge, as seemed to happen in the disastrous, chaotic Twitter reorganization after the Musk takeover.
In undertaking downsizing, I think some firms may have learned the lessons proposed by organizational scholars, Wayne Cascio and Kim Cameron, for successful downsizing that they discovered after the downsizing events of the 1990's. There were two major findings:
$ Downsizing should be undertaken in the service of a strategic shift; units compatible with the new strategy should be reinforced, units lacking such compatibility should be downsized.
$ Top management should share the pain by taking significant salary reductions for the year(s) layoffs were occurring.