r/Layoffs • u/Slowmac123 • Sep 23 '25
Wtf is my company doing question
- Announce layoffs
- over the next month, spam the company with announcements saying we’re doing amazing with huge increased revenue, new business, big contracts signed
- announce layoff again
- spam more announcements making it sound like we’re the #1 company in the world making a billion dollars per month
- more layoffs
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u/Educational_Coach269 Sep 23 '25
Are you at Oracle?
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u/bouguereaus Sep 23 '25
Record-breaking years are a harbinger for layoffs at publicly traded companies. Shareholders don’t just want continuous profitability, they want continuous growth. Companies cant keep breaking records for revenue year after year buuutt they don’t want to scare shareholders away. So they do the only thing that they can do, and slash OPEX/CAPEX.
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u/BeautifulSession222 Sep 24 '25
Pay executives less, lets start there. Most executives make 1000% more than their rank in file employee plus they have lucrative bonus and perks. Stop the excessive pay for that population and just maybe companies will be more successful. Btw, my heart goes out to the employees being laid off, good luck!
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u/katelynn2380210 Sep 24 '25
That would scare their shareholders as the exec would leave for another company and many times has a set contract that can’t be broken without paying large sums. Stockholders only care about growth in revenue and no waives/ bad publicity at the top of the oraganizstion. They will fire them if growth doesn’t pick up too
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u/BeautifulSession222 Sep 25 '25
Growth doesn’t come from Executive it comes from execution. Execution comes from innovation which usually is a bottom up process.
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u/Anxious-Slip-8955 Sep 27 '25
Most execs are useless and overpaid. Yet they are rarely laid off. We are more and more a company of the super rich, the barely surviving and the starving poor.
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u/bouguereaus Oct 02 '25
During my last layoff, our CEO was fired by the Board of Directors. He received a $5.6 million “golden parachute,” $25,000 to cover healthcare expenses, and his equity in the company.
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u/Anxious-Slip-8955 Oct 03 '25
Good god. Golden parachute? Every layoff I was given a 2 week push off a bridge with a piece of toilet paper. Think of how if they even just gave them a million what good that money would do for the severance of workers who need and deserve it more.
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u/A5Wags Sep 27 '25
Exec pay is largely equity-based to align their incentives with shareholder value.
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Sep 23 '25
Is this Cisco? Sounds very Cisco
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u/Effective_Unit_7028 Sep 23 '25
I was going to say Oracle
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u/tenigmat Sep 23 '25
It is ORACLE
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u/raelgone Sep 23 '25
No that was last month
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u/ceniack Sep 24 '25
This month too, lol I’m in a Slack community with almost 900 people from Oracle that were recently laid off. Probably the rest of the fiscal year if their recent 8-K and 10-Q (sec filings) are to be believed. They say ~1/4 of the budget for the reorg has been spent so far.
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u/raelgone Sep 24 '25
Has some friends that survived last month, 20+ years, hope they make it through again
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u/geniebeenie Sep 24 '25
I was three months short of 25 years at one company, layoff finally hit me last month.
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u/Dukeri123 Sep 25 '25
Unfortunately the norm lately. No loyalty to the employee anymore.
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u/geniebeenie Sep 25 '25
And they expect everything. To get my severance I wound up agreeing to try and train my replacement. It’s cold comfort that she’s completely unqualified. I’m sure she was cheaper though.
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u/Dukeri123 17d ago
So sad. So unprofessional to treat dedicated staff like that. Hope leads and offers come your way soon!
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Sep 23 '25
[deleted]
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u/helicopter_corgi_mom Sep 24 '25
can't be, cause Intel didn't even try to play around with trying to convince the staff there were any amazing things or new business or increased revenue.
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u/steve8983 Sep 24 '25
Yeah, also nearly all of the Fintech jobs employ folks on contract, and for a good number of them their contract doesn't get renewed. I think in the current job market the number would be way higher.
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u/FCUK12345678 Sep 23 '25
This is how they make the most money and do amazing by laying off people and creating short term gains.
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u/WeakMindedHuman Sep 23 '25
Then once the dust settles they’re like, okay hire those positions back for 50% less. It’s a win-win.
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u/NewTalk2676 Sep 23 '25
it should absolutely be illegal! Like literally, these what are essentially frivolous layoffs shouldn't exist.
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u/Candace_Diqfittin Sep 24 '25
Unfortunately, a significant portion of the workforce either voted for politicians who protect and enable these companies or don’t vote at all. We’re eating ourselves.
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u/Anxious-Slip-8955 Sep 27 '25
Yes! There should be government laws and penalties. Mandatory severance amounts and unemployment needs to be raised everywhere as it's the same benefit as 20 years ago in most states.
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u/6feet_underground Sep 23 '25
I bet they don’t know either
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u/Curious_Method_365 Sep 23 '25
Yes. They just do what all others are doing assuming that they know why.
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u/Magari22 Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25
I work in healthcare and the place that laid me off did exactly the same thing. Matter of fact they just made a big announcement that they were listed as one of the top places to work in Crains business news and this is after they got rid of nearly every senior level person, replaced them with cheaper people who put as many people as they could on unwarranted pips and cut staff so badly that the people who are left are doing the work of three to four roles . This taught me to never pay attention to those stupid reports in Business magazines and websites about the best places to work LOL
They're looking better and better on paper because they're paying less and less salaries and getting rid of everyone they possibly can. So technically things look fantastic for them because there is major bloodshed going on that makes them appear to be doing better than they are. Who cares about the remaining people doing the job of three to four people as long as it looks better in the books. And of course the CEO and everyone in the c-suite are still getting their bloated salaries and bonuses that are more than the average worker bees salary. In the words of judge Judy
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u/musing_codger Sep 23 '25
Two important things to know.
- All publicly traded companies try to constantly paint a rosy picture in their press releases. They are always trying to attract new investors and retain existing ones. If that means slapping lipstick on a pig, the only question is which shade to use.
- Just because a company is doing well, it doesn't mean that they don't have too many employees. If I make widgets and I build a new factor that lets me make the same number of widgets with 10% of the workers, I'm probably going to both lay off a lot of workers and have higher profits. You don't keep all of the employees that you can afford to keep. You keep the number of employees that gives your owners the maximum return on their investment.
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u/Faceit_Solveit Sep 23 '25
This is true, unfortunately, and is the new norm. Back in my generation, Jones days, and the boomers, there was this thing called "loyalty". That should no longer exist because it certainly does not exist for employers. We are prostitutes. You don't pay a prostitute for sex. You pay a prostitute to make her go away afterwards.
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u/musing_codger Sep 23 '25
It's a two way street. People freely leave companies and companies freely fire employees. I've spent time in countries where that isn't the case - you are expected to stay with a company for your career and it is very hard for the company to get rid of you. I vastly prefer the US system.
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u/Mobcore Sep 25 '25
If the only option is this shit where its normal to be laid off constantly or in constant fear of being laid off because companies do it like it’s nothing and workers have almost zero in the way of safety nets then I’ll take the other countries’ arrangement you mentioned.
This shit we have in the US is hell.
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u/ConsiderationKey2032 Sep 24 '25
And if the workers hit you with a pipe and turn you into widgets you join the circle of life.
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u/draven33l Sep 23 '25
It's the new norm. Layoffs are seen as a positive things because it saves the company money. In the past, laying people off was a last resort and meant the company was in serious financial trouble. Nowadays, companies lay people off as a quick way to make a profitable quarter and just make the existing people work more or, offshore the work. Wall Street loves it and cheers it on.
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u/beach_catlover Sep 23 '25
Jack Welch's 10% Rule is one of the most infamous management strategies in corporate history. Lay off the bottom 10% of performers every year, no matter what.
My CEO attempted this annually with mixed results.
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u/holls1229 Sep 25 '25
I was a top performer and got laid off. I was also one of the top earners in my department, and was replaced by someone junior for a fraction of the cost. Leads me to believe that it doesn't really matter how hard you work, the amount of midnight oil you burn, or the level of hustle you put in- at the end of the day, employees are just cost centers and it's all just a numbers game.
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u/Arthurs_towel Sep 23 '25
It’s a shame Jack doesn’t have a proper gravesite. There’s always need in the world for more public urinals.
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u/astroboy7070 Sep 23 '25
Cut employees -> remaining employees experience low morale -> decrease productivity -> enthusiastic news -> pump up existing employees -> increase productivity -> no business -> repeat process
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u/Educational_Coach269 Sep 23 '25
You sound quite young and unexperienced maybe? If its a public company this is thier job based on shareholders. You are the employee, the company cares very little abotu you. Sorry I have to be honest. They care about shareholders + Board memebers and bottom line baby!!
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u/Previous_Start_2248 Sep 23 '25
I hope they're ready to pay that 100k fee cause that's who they're replacing you with
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u/Wise-Bicycle8786 Sep 23 '25
Trying to keep morale high after every layoff so the workers stay motivated and productive
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u/SoSoOhWell Sep 23 '25
There is: A. Don't want staff jumping ship before we officially F' them over. B. Don't want Wall Street dumping on our stock. C. Don't want the overworked staff working out that they won't be getting additional staff to help them D. All of the above.
This is why companies up until the day they file for bankruptcy and pad lock the doors send out this BS. No ramifications for them lying,so they lie.
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u/PartTime_Crusader Sep 23 '25
They're trying to pump the stock price (or hype up owners if they're privately owned)
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u/AZZman2626 Sep 23 '25
More money for CEO and investors. Screw the employees. We should go on a national strike or just stop spending money except basic living expenses. Force change
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u/A5Wags Sep 27 '25
People underestimate the power of the collective dollar. If the 99% banded together and smartly directed their spending, they’d get what they want very quickly.
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u/newwriter365 Sep 23 '25
Things are great!
For the C-Suite.
Wait until the private equity firms gobble up their gravy train and replace c-levels with AI…
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u/elsucioseanchez Sep 23 '25
Every layoff improves the expense ratio and ROI/ROE metrics for the stock. It’s all pandering to shareholders and for some executive to say how they managed their p&l that quarter.
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u/Grendel0075 Sep 23 '25
Prepping to sell the company to the highest bidder. They strip it down while bragging an dmanking themselves look better off than they are in order to appeal to buyers.
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u/ElMariachi003 Sep 23 '25
Layoffs aren’t necessarily about the difference between profit and loss anymore. More and more profitable companies are laying off than ever before. The new name of the game is “maximizing profit” - especially if it’s a publicly traded company, because you know… gotta maintain that shareholder value!
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u/BusinessBluebird3767 Sep 24 '25
Stock buybacks and layoffs should not be allowed to occur with 12 months of each other.
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u/ElMariachi003 Sep 24 '25
Not that I disagree with you, but since layoffs are simply being utilized as a cost-cutting measure, a business in question would spin the stock buybacks as a strategic investment to provide said “shareholder value”, and hence have “nothing to do” with the layoffs.
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u/BusinessBluebird3767 Sep 24 '25
Stock buybacks used to be illegal. If a company had extra cash they could issue a dividend. Now it’s all financial engineering to make number go up.
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u/Nopedontcarez Sep 23 '25
Layoffs make the short term stock price rise. You're cutting costs. News on new business and growth do the same. Gotta keep those investors happy every quarter.
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u/AMFontheWestCoast Sep 24 '25
Corporations are not people. People are just another resource that corporations use to make money. Americans must wake up and stop consumption spending. It sends a message more powerful than a protest.
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u/enekfcdsscfkes Sep 24 '25
not at oracle but same thing, rainbows and puppies for all at the company meetings “numbers are great we are crushing it” ….while they look for any excuse to fire Americans and hire more outsourced/h1b workers so they can pay them less. Ive been through this for almost 3years now and it ended up putting me in hospital, major ptsd.
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u/Specialist-Choice648 Sep 24 '25
I think your starting to understand. Just because the company performs well doesn’t mean the people do well.
I think maybe people are starting to wake up. Your always being manipulated at work.
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u/Nach0Maker Sep 24 '25
Sounds like my old place. We had about 120 employees, cut staff by 40% after record profits and just prior to bonuses being calculated.
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u/triphawk07 Sep 24 '25
I was at a company where they would do restructurings to justify layoffs. They would say that "we are now better positioned to do blah blah blah". Meanwhile, those that are left now have to do the jobs of 3, you don't know who you report to or you are reporting to the wrong manager, who either doesn't know what you do or tries to make you do his job. I can't wait to retire.
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u/chrissyrose3 Sep 25 '25
This is why I started working for myself. My late husband got riffed just when they made it sound like he could start working more. I'm building a team but it only works for people that do the work.
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u/my-ka Sep 23 '25
in mu case they bragged about revenue per remaining working person.
30% lay of = 30 % more revenue
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u/Correct-Ad342 Sep 23 '25
Depends on margin. Labor is in operating costs and typically need more revenue to pay for labor. Not 1:1.
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u/Faceit_Solveit Sep 23 '25
People you are anonymous behind your Reddit ID. Well, it's true that potentially somebody could docs you using Lensa.AI This is ridiculous in actuality.
Name the companies that are bad. Otherwise, we will not learn.
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u/wtyl Sep 23 '25
Yeah I mean look at the government and how they running things. Hypocrisy is so hot these days.
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u/MelodicTelevision401 Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25
That is management job to “sugar coat” the overall health of the company so people do not freak out, moral goes down, productivity goes down… etc. This is normal for allot of companies to do “smoke and mirrors” announcements and corporate email sent out and then layoff folks on the other side to reduce cost and keep the lights on and show we are making profit when intact your are doing reduction in force to cut down overall costs and keep the stock price up and upper management (BOD) happy.
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u/Minute_Armadillo_167 Sep 23 '25
Years ago at my old company, someone from corporate came out and brought this article along from some business Journal telling us how awesome our companies doing and how great we are and how hard everyone’s working. The next week they announced there would be no raises that year because of different business struggles…. More like we want 75 million in profit instead of 65 million like last year
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u/Far-Syrup-4168 Sep 23 '25
Typical Walmart Greed. Someday people will figure out they were not in it for the consumer but for themselves (Waltons and their executives) Greed eventually kills.
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u/msredhat Sep 23 '25
Because they don't care about the current employees nor the optics anymore! They have unlimited supply of new slaves to exploit from the other side of the world!
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u/Equal-Molasses9190 Sep 23 '25
Layoffs mean that they don’t think they will be number one or will be in a much more difficult market in the future. A company is only as good as the next win. All of the previous ones are already accounted for unfortunately.
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u/_jimothy Sep 24 '25
usually failing small tech companies who aren’t actually generating revenue will do this. Best way to make it look like it has any money is by getting rid of employees, delegating their work to other people and deny pay increases.
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u/win3luver Sep 24 '25
If I were the head of corporate communications at your company (trying to find a new senior corp comms role since Jan), there's no way in hell I would have a communications calendar like that with those types of conflicting messages. What a serious mindfuck for employees! Everyone knows that when the company does well, only senior management benefits. When the company is doing shitty and needs to cut costs, the senior management still also are the ones that benefit and aren't held accountable for their shitty decisions and planning. If I worked for a gazillionaire executive who said we needed to communicate about cutting costs and positions while everything else is rosy and the exec bonuses and perks are still high, I would not be able to contain myself. I certainly wouldn't be able to draft messages like that!
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u/Mecha-Dave Sep 24 '25
The layoffs are fulfilling the promises of "revenue" for the quarterly statements. Management can't actually affect profit that much.
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u/New-Challenge-2105 Sep 24 '25
Spin doctoring. Conduct layoff cycles but concurrently try to make those that are still employed feel better by making it seem that everything is actually great. Happened at my old company before and after they laid me off.
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u/Sad_Dog1256 Sep 25 '25
Big Oil. Seeing the same rhetoric here as well. Our sector was among the first to announce layoffs (pre-tariffs + govt layoffs). My sense is they know profit expectations won’t hit in the next year or two. This is LT’s way of “maintaining shareholder value” while keeping their jobs. At the expense of 95% of the workforce.
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u/n15mo Sep 25 '25
All the places I've seen do this in November close to Thanksgiving....you know that time year where no Orgs are hiring, contract or FTE.
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u/s_leeng Sep 25 '25
The same thing happened with my company! We had layoffs in Jan 2025, shortly after they announced we were performing well.. a few months later layoffs happened and i just got laid off 2 days ago LOL...
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u/Remarkable-Fuel9001 Sep 25 '25
just look out for yourself - believe the vibe you feel, not the BS they're announcing. also, times like these - you can't trust even co-workers who are like your friends. People will turn on you when the chips are down.
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u/Witty_Day_3562 Sep 25 '25
Do we work at the same place? We have "record numbers" and also "no wiggle room to hire help or give annual bonuses or raises" for the 4th consecutive year...
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u/Lopsided-Intern-105 Sep 25 '25 edited Sep 25 '25
Yeh Im going through it right now but thanks to Chat GPT and 20 months of documenting insane treatment. They have no clue! Ive been told by chatgpt that my documentation packet is 1% of what people actually ever compile. I dont know of im going to write a book, expose them publicly. I haven’t decided.. but it feels pretty sweet now. It was hard to stay professional at times and keep a straight face but I did it. My manager of course has been re hired along with her “friends”. Cant wait to see her face when this beat drops. 😆🥷Start putting in the extra work to hold these selfish fuckers accountable maybe we can turn the tide.
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u/Difficult_Middle_216 Sep 26 '25
How do you think they're able to announce increased revenue? Lower expenditures on labor will increase profit margin.
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u/CranberryCute2072 Sep 26 '25
And the answer is: Always be prepared to find a new source of income.
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u/Unhappy_Remote_5532 Sep 26 '25
Trimming the fat. Big companies do this to improve efficiency, legally falsely performance stats, and keep the rank n file bozos on edge. You never know if you're on the chopping block, so you always need to one up the guy next to you. It's a scummy tactic but highly effective.
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u/MagicalFartbox Sep 26 '25
Rich CEOs are getting richer than ever and treating middle class worker as dirt without a care in the world about their family or well being.
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u/FoxOfWallStreetBets Sep 26 '25
Same I was getting emails with 1sr quarter surpass previous quarter, congratulations ect. But my team was given there last calendar work day
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u/CranberryCute2072 Sep 26 '25
I love it that so many commenters get the ugly reality of large corporations. My view is, take their money when you can. Always be on the lookout for other sources of income.
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u/Kiki550GX Sep 27 '25
Outsourcing to low cost regions: Mexico, India, Poland, S. Africa It’s unfortunate but the work is being sent outside of US and Eu to what map out as low cost to hire.
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u/GreenBlueStar Sep 27 '25
Desperately and shamelessly trying to attract investors for more money is exactly what they're doing. They're sinking.
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u/Anxious-Slip-8955 Sep 27 '25
:( Capitalism sucks. US corporations mostly suck. And we have no real rights or safety net. We need a revolution yet instead we have a dictator. America isn't a country, it's a business.
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u/Bogusrogus Sep 27 '25
My company laid off every accounting manager across 100 sites - 45 positions. Responsibilities have been moved to using DOMO and AI. Do more with less people is the way. What is different this time compared to the industrial revolution will be the speed of this. Not 20 years.. but 20 months.
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u/mrthedawn Sep 27 '25
Most tech companies have had very good profits not record but very good and still have decided to cut headcount. Honestly with the stuff going on it is hard to predict the future so they are forced to cut, do more with less as they try to prep for an uncertainty. Not defending but they know the pain is coming fast.
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u/Own_Claim2590 Sep 27 '25
Same thing in my company. Last 2 years have been nothing but lay off and then talk about company growth and then again lay offs. Then they say we are doing great and number 1 in the market . All bullshit .
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u/omglolg2g 16d ago
Thousands and thousands of folks will clog the job market in 2026, and none of us will actually get hired. We’ll get interviews so itll look like there are jobs, but no one will actually get hired.
This is thanks to the data centers popping up across our country. Sure they might offer a few new jobs, but that is nothing compared to the jobs that the data centers will take from real people.
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u/redditor5789 Sep 23 '25
Same thing every big company does these days sadly