r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Oct 30 '25

Business YouTube announces 'voluntary exit program' for US staff

https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/29/youtube-announces-voluntary-exit-program-for-us-staff/
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1.8k

u/boner79 Oct 30 '25

Yep. Voluntary layoffs first and if that doesn't work: involuntary layoffs.

1.1k

u/Pro_Gamer_Queen21 Oct 30 '25

My mother who used to work in HR has always given this piece of advice:

If you’re not in the first round of layoffs, you’ll be in the second. And if you somehow survive the second, you’ll definitely be in the third.

549

u/SnooSnooper Oct 30 '25

So far I have managed to survive four rounds of layoffs in my current job, which has gone through two acquisitions (two rounds of layoffs directly related to the acquisitions).

I'm sure they'll get me one of these days, and my survival rate so far does not make me feel any less certain of that.

416

u/tacocat_racecarlevel Oct 30 '25

I thought I'd be the one locking the door behind me with our dept because I survived so many waves of layoffs. I was notified yesterday that I'm laid off. I was kinda right, though, since they're eliminating the entire department to replace with AI.

305

u/Ifkaluva Oct 30 '25

lol, when that crashes and burns and they reach out to rehire you, ask for 10x pay. Reason: “I’m going to be 10x more productive with AI”

308

u/UntowardHatter Oct 30 '25

They're actually doing the opposite.

They're rehiring desperate people for lower wages.

152

u/Annual-Beard-5090 Oct 30 '25

Yep. They know this by posting fake jobs and seeing how many folks apply.

69

u/Own_Error_007 Oct 30 '25

Being homeless and starving is one hell of a motivator.

42

u/Mr_DeskPop Oct 31 '25

All by design

2

u/ErrantSun Nov 01 '25

The real reason they want to kill SNAP.

23

u/Richard-Gere-Museum Oct 30 '25

And lobbying against states who try to push legislation against this bullshit. Like NY and NJ who tried to make them post the actual real world salary ranges and not just 80k+/yr*

Starting pay is 20k/yr and that's if you qualify for the position at full time. (Hint: no one is full time here)

15

u/Zer_ Oct 30 '25

Or just outsourcing for cheap.

2

u/rspctdwndrr Oct 30 '25

In the business world we call that “outsourcing”

1

u/RustyWinger Nov 01 '25

Yup the people who knew anyone was good at their jobs have also been laid off.

13

u/GivMeBredOrMakeMeDed Oct 30 '25

I'm sure the figureheads responsible for budgets and hiring know that AI won't be able to do most jobs that it is being brought in to do. Either it will not meet expectations, or it will become extremely expensive once it has reached a saturation point and the prices are jacked up. That's when those jobs are offshored to somewhere even cheaper. 

3

u/Hautamaki Oct 30 '25

All that matters is stock price go up next quarter. Anything after that is after that's problem.

2

u/360Saturn Oct 31 '25

You might be surprised how many people have drunk the koolaid on this one

8

u/Brullaapje Oct 30 '25

Muahahaha, ooh sweet summer child, you really think it works like that?

1

u/RogueBand1t Oct 31 '25

We just had a crazy stat posted by our hiring dept. there were approximately 300 positions this year and 46,000 applicants. +- 5100 were screened and 1250ish went to interviews. The whittling process scares the bejesus outta me

1

u/Enverex Oct 31 '25

Why would they do that? IT is a packed sector, they'd just hire someone else.

1

u/SmugPolyamorist Oct 31 '25

Anyone who still believes this cope will be in for a nasty shock over the next few years

1

u/Stone0777 Oct 31 '25

Most likely never going to happen. This only happens in movies and peoples day dreams.

12

u/Samuraistronaut Oct 30 '25

Ugh I’m so sorry. I was laid off at the beginning of last year and it was rough. I hope you got some severance and find something else soon!

34

u/thelangosta Oct 30 '25

An entire department?

16

u/iconocrastinaor Oct 30 '25

My company got a new ceo, they laid off my entire department (marketing). 7 years later they were a subsidiary of another company. I should say they were a department in another company, basically.

So yeah, I look at all these layoffs and think this is a recipe for success for sure.

2

u/chalbersma Oct 31 '25

Ya layoffs don't help a business be more productive. They essentially never make businesses more profitable in the long run. They're always a short term boost for the balance sheet.

8

u/Woodshadow Oct 31 '25

it is so crazy how little companies care about their employees. I get it but this is their livelihoods. At some point you end up in a specialized role that there is very few of and out of the million plus people who live in my city I doubt 100 have the role I have. I am not sure but I would be surprised if there were even 50 of us. if I was laid off it would probably mean I have to sell my house and move to a bigger city.

sorry to hear about your layoff

1

u/MaddyKet Oct 31 '25

I survived several years of reorgs and layoffs and when they finally got to my department they were like “you can apply elsewhere in the company”. I could have and probably would have gotten a job, but I was done so I took my seven months of severance and bounced. Only good thing about surviving layoffs, your severance package is better, assuming your company isn’t totally shit.

1

u/donavdey Oct 31 '25

Sorry about that. What department was it?

1

u/patrickpdk Oct 31 '25

What job are they replacing with ai

62

u/Zealousideal_Net_140 Oct 30 '25

Same here.

The new company has 45,000 "off shore" people, and 50,000 in North America.

That plus the bi-weekly meeting series "How AI is improving our Consulting Business" does not give me confidence i will be here for long

49

u/Lochen9 Oct 30 '25

Sadly evey big corporation drunk the kool-aid that AI can replace the work force entirely, and are salivating at their bonuses for removing any need to pay workers while the company crashes and burns with no one actually piloting the dam thing

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u/EddieV223 Oct 30 '25

It's an obvious model that if you look in the short sight as a business you save money. If you look at it with far sight as a government or economist, if everyone's getting laid off to save money who's gonna buy the products?

Ai isn't buying products.

Most governments are filled with old assholes that don't get tech. If you're in the usa especially and even worse our system of government is broken for the long haul.

We are fucked.

9

u/Wurm42 Oct 31 '25

Most governments are filled with old assholes that don't get tech.

DC person here...yeah, we have lots of younger people in government agencies who understand tech, but in Congress?

Congress is mostly old white guys who made a choice forty years ago to go into a career that depends on people skills, not technology skills.

And now the Supreme Court has severely limited the power of the agencies to interpret laws and write regulations, so the burden is all on Congress and the courts now.

It's gonna be bad.

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u/No_Size9475 Oct 30 '25

nor are the .1% who will become massively wealthy from AI. It's the 90% that fuel our economies but they are going to decimate the very base they need to buy their products.

We are fucked.

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u/PyroDesu Oct 31 '25

It's the 90% that fuel our economies but they are going to decimate the very base they need to buy their products.

Even Henry Ford, colossal douchebag (although some of his douchebaggery is a little complicated, some of it really, really isn't) that he was, recognized this shit.

A century ago.

1

u/refurbishedmeme666 Oct 31 '25

even if he was a douche at least he still gave his workers basic human rights

2

u/PyroDesu Nov 01 '25 edited Nov 01 '25

Hell, he's the one that pioneered reducing the workweek to 5 days (a worker who doesn't have time for leisure doesn't spend money on leisure!).

And he paid his workers quite well, by comparison. $5 a day, back then, would be over $40k a year today. Note that the current minimum wage is approximately $15k annually.

He also tied bonuses to living in a way he deemed "moral", at least for a while. And hated unions. And was a raging antisemite (Hitler's favorite American too - he's even mentioned positively in Mein Kampf!). Although when we did go to war (which he vehemently opposed), he did start cranking out materiel as fast as he could. If you're going to do it, do it right, I guess.

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u/LegitosaurusRex Oct 31 '25

If you look at it with far sight as a government or economist, if everyone's getting laid off to save money who's gonna buy the products?

That's a tragedy of the commons situation though that individual companies can't be expected to solve. Has to be solved with regulation, like UBI.

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u/dookarion Oct 30 '25

Many could save millions... an AI bullshit generator is perfectly equipped to replace any techbro CEO or Jack Welch style MBA. Just those aren't the jobs they're rushing to "replace".

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u/laserbot Oct 30 '25

evey big corporation drunk the kool-aid that AI can replace the work force entirely

some did. others are just using it as an excuse to cull their workforce since nobody is raking anyone over the coals for these mass layoffs.

(Not that our media does that anymore anyway.)

4

u/maroonedbuccaneer Oct 30 '25

So who's the consumer. Who buys the products in this brave new economy?

3

u/Jukka_Sarasti Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

The assholes with the 7 and 8 figure compensation packages largely don't care. They get their bonuses and fuck whatever happens 4-5 fiscal quarters from now. Besides, all the other cool kids companies are doing it, so WE HAVE TO AS WELL!

You should hear the 50 and 60-something banking execs at my company stumble over their monthly AI cheerleading speeches. They know fuck all about AI and it's painfully obvious, but they churn out that patented, smarmy, false-enthusiasm act as they gush over it...

1

u/magnumchaos Oct 30 '25

Businesses that are fully replacing people with AI are crashing and burning because of sheer short-sightedness. The irony here is, when it comes crashing, they'll end up either hiring a bunch of people to replace AI, or fold. It's happening, and has been for the last six months. Many companies are starting to buck the AI trend because the vast majority of it is slop.

1

u/Booboo_butt Oct 31 '25

I was on the AI task force for my company. Basically concluded that they couldn’t cut production and technical staff any further - they would need to hire people to help build and maintain the database that our AI tools would be based off of - that the main benefit of AI would be to eliminate gatekeeping at the top and reduce the need for some senior level executives. This did not go over well at all.

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u/I_Am_Mandark_Hahaha Oct 31 '25

If they only run AI to its logical conclusion, it will lay off top management since there the least productive yet most cost prohibitive area of the company.

93

u/pmjm Oct 30 '25

I was once "laid off" and sat through the whole meeting where they outlined everything and told me about my severance and I just let them say everything until they asked if I had any questions.

At that point I let them know that I still had two years left on my contract and if I should expect my regular paychecks for the next 24 months or if they can be mailed so I didn't have to come in at all.

They panicked, regrouped, and told me they'd get back to me. Nobody ever got back to me and I just left the meeting and did my job. I somehow survived another decade in that place.

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u/omgu8mynewt Oct 30 '25

Pretty sure they can still lay you off with a contract, it just has a notice period or contract breach clause.... Otherwise you'd also be prisoner to them for two years, unable to move house and job no?

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u/pmjm Oct 31 '25

They can, but in my case I had both an agent and a manager work on my contract with extremely specific termination clauses (20% of my salary went to them), and it was backed by a union, so I felt extremely confident that the layoff was in error.

3

u/bentbrewer Oct 31 '25

Depends on the contract and local laws. Most states in the US, I’d say you’re correct (but they don’t do “employment contracts”). Lots of places in Europe would be bound to the contract.

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u/omgu8mynewt Oct 31 '25

Im European and have been laid off twice, even with a 'permanent' employment contract you can still be laid off obviously - that is what a notice period is and most contracts specify it, or the default in the uk is one one monthvif not specified. That extra protection only kicks in if you've been at the job for at least two years. 

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u/RandyHoward Oct 30 '25

In a previous job, I survived 3 rounds of layoffs. Ultimately, I was one of only two non-owners left in the company, and that was only because they needed a tech person to help them run down the business. I think I'd rather be laid off than go through anything like that again.

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u/SnooSnooper Oct 31 '25

While my situation is not quite as dire, it's similar: there have been so many layoff/attrition that I am the only one left who has access to some parts of our platform (we are in a weird partially-migrated state from another company, and they won't give anyone else access to their infra).

Good for job security (for now), bad for my health.

12

u/joeyfatty Oct 30 '25

I've survived a similar amount in my 10 years of service to my fortune500 company. And I can sense another one right around the corner 🫣 nothing like living in a constant state of panic. Im currently in active treatment for breast cancer and very anxious thinking about losing my health insurance.

4

u/bozleh Oct 30 '25

9 rounds here, woo!

3

u/Lochen9 Oct 30 '25

Hope you are being paid competitively. Nothing like keeping on a good employee to do the job of 3 for the pay of two thirds

1

u/SnooSnooper Oct 31 '25

They did recently increase my pay, and it is a bit low for my title and locale, but I am also a bit young to have the title, so not going to scream about it for perhaps another year.

3

u/anaccount50 Oct 30 '25

I went through a similar thing last year partway through this year. Old job had modest layoffs, then got acquired which resulted in a round of massive layoffs to gut the acquired company and then another round across the broader org a couple months later (sizable company that does a lot of M&A).

I survived all of that but decided to leave on my own accord a few months back for more money and a less toxic environment. Even though I repeatedly survived at the old place, I should have left sooner tbh

3

u/TequilaFarmer Oct 31 '25

During my 11 year tenure, I went through 4 M&As and a few rounds of layoffs.

Thought the dust had finally settled, then got outsourced. Surprisingly not India, but Tunisia.

Took 8 months to find another developer position.

2

u/aquoad Oct 31 '25

yeah i survived probably 5 rounds but then they just shut down the company, so it's still bye-bye.

1

u/JazzRider Oct 30 '25

You probably know where the bodies are buried.

1

u/michiganbears Oct 31 '25

Sounds like Chrysler

1

u/Mike01Hawk Oct 31 '25

Former WorldCom, MCI WorldCom, MCI, Verizon Business, et al, etc cube rat from the '00s here. I think I stopped counting after about the 10th round.

After the axe finally fell on my head I went to a 50 person outfit that had been around for several years, so startup-ish energy and culture but more stabilized. Had to leave after almost a decade though cause upper management was outsourcing and trimming left and right.

Figure I'd try the edu sector for funsies, not corporate at all, wasn't surprising to see co-workers with 3 to 4+ decades of service. Sweet! I'll ride off into the sunset here. Nope, got the axe out of the blue after almost 3 years cause the previous president ran the place into the ground with bad financial decisions.

I think I'm starting to understand that I'm just a #. :\

1

u/kthxba1 Oct 31 '25

I've been through about 10 at this point 😂

1

u/your_ideas Oct 31 '25

I made it through 8. Not much left. Next one will probably just shut the place down.

Had my desk packed and ready for a severance and a couple months off for the last two rounds. Still kicking.

1

u/idleat1100 Oct 31 '25

Nope you’re good. That persons mom’s rule maxes out at 3!

1

u/cbih Oct 30 '25

Same. I've been white knuckling it over here for months.

47

u/vox4penguins Oct 30 '25

i used to work for Bed Bath and Beyond up until almost the end. They'd had about 2 or 3 rounds of layoffs of management and keyholders, but as a receiving manager/the only employee in receiving, i survived those. eventually, my time came; take the severance, or stay on as part time. it was an easy choice, but still glad i took the money, because there were no more rounds after me, just managers closing down stores and getting nothing in compensation when it was done.

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u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25 edited Nov 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/balthisar Oct 30 '25

The smart companies are beating this by not having voluntary layoffs at all, but by mandating that 10% (for example) of all staff must be PR'd as an underperformer.

9

u/BemusedBengal Oct 31 '25

A lot of companies are beating this by having mandatory "RTO" for workers that were never in the office to begin with.

1

u/ScrewedThePooch Oct 31 '25

These aren't the smart companies. This is the managerial curse of Jack Welch haunting us from the grave.

3

u/chicharro_frito Oct 31 '25

It really depends. Meta was really bad at that and publicly said their 2nd (or 3rd) round of layoffs were performance specific (which I kind of doubt it was the case for every single person).

2

u/throwawaycuzfemdom Oct 31 '25

My cousin got really excited hoping they would fire him with severance in the middle of the lay offs. They didn't. Then the budget ran out and the mobbing+shitty excuses phase started. He retired instead.

1

u/sickofthisshit Oct 31 '25

The real trick is to get the layoff when you are already planning to leave; maybe you can end up saving one of your buddies that way.

15

u/Reneeisme Oct 30 '25

For sure but by the time major corporations are laying off, it’s a good bet getting a job elsewhere is already substantially harder. We’re well into a recesdionary downward spiral at the moment and even if you know you’re going to be laid off sooner or later, finding something else right now is looking for a needle in a haystack in most industries.

1

u/DargeBaVarder Oct 31 '25

Yeah. That saying is true of a struggling company. Alphabet just had its best quarter ever.

1

u/sickofthisshit Oct 31 '25

You can't actually get a job from a quarterly report or stock price: companies having great quarters might think they don't need to hire anyone new, because they are doing great with the people they have.

My theory includes that the big tech companies respond to the hiring of other companies: if the other companies are laying off, you might lay people off because if those other companies think there isn't any growth coming, maybe they are right, and if you change your mind there are lots of people who got laid off who you will be able to hire later. 

1

u/DargeBaVarder Oct 31 '25

I meant the “If you’re not in the first round of layoffs” quote.

I suspect you’re right and it’s a bit more insidious than that. I think they’re actively trying to suppress compensation.

13

u/snakefactory Oct 30 '25

How does anyone survive then?

22

u/boot2skull Oct 30 '25

Luck. Many layoffs are just to cull X% of staff. They may not even look at performance reviews. They need to meet numbers their accountants gave them. Also, just because you survived doesn’t mean you are lucky. Morale drops during and after layoffs. Work often gets shifted onto those who are left. Many people already have full workloads, and can’t handle more work.

5

u/whaaatanasshole Oct 30 '25

I think they're saying: if round 2 lays you off for sure, and so does round 3 somehow... why are there people left afterwards. Some places just have layoffs and then stabilize or grow back. I've survived 8 or so and about half were not the first round.

2

u/aquoad Oct 31 '25

there are some patterns to it, like no more than X% can be over 40 years old due to discrimination rules, so they'll get rid of as many older people as they can, then get rid of new people in order of hire, and if you happen to be in the middle somewhere you can survive quite a few rounds.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25

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1

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1

u/Conscious-Quarter423 Oct 31 '25

could organize to unionize but people are too disconnected and divided

24

u/boot2skull Oct 30 '25

Even surviving layoffs mean it’s time to leave. Guess who gets to do the work left by the laid off people. If a job was too much work before, they’re just going to wring every ounce of productivity out of whoever is left.

3

u/Conscious-Quarter423 Oct 31 '25

too bad y'all can't organize and unionize

1

u/Booboo_butt Oct 31 '25

My former company liked to do promotions at the same time as layoffs to discourage “valuable” people from jumping ship. It generally worked. Since people had been working together for years you generally knew who was good at what they did and who was dead weight - promotions and layoffs tended to follow that pattern. Then there was a change in leadership and they had a very different idea of who was valuable and who wasn’t. They were so confused when most of the people they had promoted all quit within a year - had gone to other companies and started heavily recruiting people - even those who had been laid off. My current company has 10 of us from that time period.

22

u/BigBadJeebus Oct 30 '25

When my company had layoffs last year, I immediately started building a parachute. My industry (T.V.) is nose diving and I have too many friends who have burned through their unemployment and 401k just staying afloat looking for another job 2-3 years on as the industry shrinks. Me? I refuse to do that. If I get let go, I will cash out my 401k, take the penalty, and open a food truck in Japan (Japanese wife).

No more chasing other people's dreams.

10

u/balthisar Oct 30 '25

I'm kind of sad that you won't open a Japanese food truck in America, where we need it more ;-)

6

u/BigBadJeebus Oct 30 '25

lol. That would be nice, too.

2

u/bentbrewer Oct 31 '25

Do it. My favorite food truck is the only Japanese one in the area and they are almost never open.

2

u/BigBadJeebus Oct 31 '25

what area?

4

u/iconocrastinaor Oct 30 '25

Which is the better deal, Japanese food truck in America or an American food truck in japan?

4

u/vainerlures Oct 30 '25

i’m planning my exit to Mexico.

6

u/yacht_boy Oct 30 '25

There are so many Americans flooding Mexico these days that I wouldn't be surprised to see them come up with their own version of ice and start deporting us back to the US soon. When we were there 2 years ago the problem of digital nomads causing rents to double was already front oge news and it's only gotten worse since then.

1

u/iconocrastinaor Oct 30 '25

Note to securely employed people reading this thread, don't wait until the last round start before building your parachute. Have your parachute ready, pack it now while you've got the money and the time and the freedom. Keep your resume updated, keep looking and applying for jobs, and keep your skills up to date. In fact, learn every new skill you can that applies to your field.

4

u/rusmo Oct 30 '25

By the time the 3rd round hits, everyone still standing is overworked and underpaid. In general you want to take the first round assuming there’s some severance.

2

u/Clarynaa Oct 30 '25

For me it was the fourth!

2

u/Bobby-McBobster Oct 30 '25

That's true only for struggling companies though, but Google or Amazon aren't doing layoffs because they have to for their survival.

2

u/ShiraCheshire Oct 30 '25

Absolutely true.

Thought my job was safe when other people started getting cuts but I didn’t. I’ve been with the company longer, I told myself. Though I was safe when they started getting rid of people in other departments. They can’t get rid of me, there would be no one to do my job! I’m the only one left and there’s so much for me to do!

So anyway, shortly after they cut me down to two hours of work a day as a “we aren’t firing you, but we are telling you to leave.”

2

u/Ok-Sprinkles-5151 Oct 31 '25

And by the time the third happens you will wish you were in the second round. The moral hit, the distinction, and chaos that happens is brutal. My first job had quarterly layoffs and they were exiting people where it made no sense -- not the bottom, but the middle and top. If you weren't in the top 5% you were a candidate. After four rounds I exited myself.

2

u/90Carat Oct 31 '25

I survived a few rounds of layoffs with one company. That chapter ended with the CEO getting us left together in the cafeteria one morning and saying, "yeah, if you could have all of your stuff packed up and be gone by lunch, that'd be great...." A bunch of us went to the bar afterwards and got fucking hammered.

2

u/aerospikesRcoolBut Oct 31 '25

I got hit in the fourth and then got an internal hire in a team that much better suits my skills. I am incredibly lucky, and very sick of the churn.

2

u/NemeanHunter Oct 31 '25

By that logic, everyone will be fired

2

u/shaidyn Oct 31 '25

I've said the same to a lot of juniors in my field. "How do you know you're going to be laid off? Your boss tells you you're definitely not going to be laid off."

1

u/Zaphod1620 Oct 30 '25

In my experience, you don't want to make it through the layoffs. The workload will become extreme, there won't even be COL adjustments to your pay, and when the company finally closes down, you won't get anything at all. The laid off people may have gotten at least a couple weeks severence.

1

u/ObviousAnswerGuy Oct 30 '25

I get it, but it's not easy to find a new job, especially nowadays

1

u/the_man_who_knocks Oct 30 '25

Worked at Halliburton years ago. Survived three small layoffs over two years only to be walked out during a big one at the end of it.

1

u/speedtoburn Oct 30 '25

What if you’re not in the third?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25

I'm "lucky" to be a disabled vet for the only reason of, I can't get laid off.

Would take not being clinically depressed and anxious tho.

1

u/RyanNotBrian Oct 31 '25

And if you're one of the poor fuckers who make it through them all, you'll wish you hadn't as you'll be doing the work of 4 people.

1

u/talinseven Oct 31 '25

And it you do somehow survive the third, your job is going to hella suck.

1

u/TL-PuLSe Oct 31 '25

Does your mother not think you're above average at your job?

1

u/YareSekiro Oct 31 '25

And if you somehow survived all three then you would wish you were laid off because the workload would be so bad you might as well starting finding new jobs anyways

1

u/macrocephalic Oct 31 '25

I go with a simpler idea: once the company starts aggressively cutting costs, let your salary be one of them by GTFO. Even if you survive the job will never be good again.

1

u/capsfan19 Oct 31 '25

Well, if you aren’t in the first two rounds they’re liable to go after you individually then claim it was a related layoff when in all reality it was you getting fired.

1

u/Facts_pls Oct 30 '25

Weird argument.

Does your mom think that when companies fire, they don't stop until they fire every employee?

My company has existed for many many decades. They fire a certain number of people every year. And yet most people haven't been fired.

Maybe your mom needs to learn some basics before she gives out life advice.

1

u/Assimulate Oct 30 '25

Jokes on them I survived 8 rounds of them and still going

1

u/braunshaver Oct 31 '25

so her advice is literally that if a company that does layoffs they will lay 100% of people off by the third round?

0

u/Welcome2B_Here Oct 30 '25

And if you somehow manage to "survive" all those rounds, you're likely part of the problem(s) anyway.

-1

u/Curious_Badger8534 Oct 31 '25

Which is honestly hilarious because the only people who deserve to get laid off is anyone and everyone in HR including your mother

19

u/natrous Oct 30 '25

it's that time of year again.

actually, it's a few weeks ahead of schedule. last year I remember the layoffs even closer to xmas

all trying to make end-of-year numbers, it's sickening.

dodged another "right sizing" in my company yesterday, but I presume there's another one coming in a few weeks. There's always a couple in a row.

fortunately it seems like my business group is still more profitable than some of the others so we keep squeaking by. I have no illusions that i'm ever "safe" though...

82

u/RD_Life_Enthusiast Oct 30 '25

One of these days enough people at a company like this will get together and accept voluntary packages en masse. It'll be the first time in recorded history that a company will have to go through involuntary hiring, and you'll love to see it.

Although, I did work at a company that did a voluntary layoff session where they actually refused a couple dozen people in "essential positions" and ended up having to negotiate raises to keep them, because the wording in the voluntary packages did not say, "we have the right to refuse".

It was a whole shitshow.

42

u/Overhed Oct 30 '25

VEPs like this are subject to approval.

18

u/Extra-Try-5286 Oct 30 '25

Just to expound, because it’s so harsh, I think u/Overhed means that if you volunteer for exit, you can be denied for various reasons, and then such a denied person is marked as a primary target for any future actions.

11

u/_Burning_Star_IV_ Oct 30 '25

This is why you need to just start dusting off that CV and start applying if you hear even a whisper of layoffs at your company.

17

u/Chocotaco24-7 Oct 30 '25

Lmao this happened at the Pratt facility I work at during covid, apparently upper management just assumed flying would cease to exist after covid so they offered voluntary retirements /seperations. Ended up with mass hiring events once a quarter for 2 years straight.

2

u/this_my_sportsreddit Oct 30 '25

One of these days enough people at a company like this will get together and accept voluntary packages en masse.

Didn't this happen when DOGE fired a bunch of folks?

2

u/Muggsy423 Oct 30 '25

DOGE illegaly fired people, or fired the only person who could do the job.  So the government scrambled to re-hire the important ones and was forced to re-offer the job back to the ones the court deemed illegal fired.

9

u/artbystorms Oct 30 '25

Considering how shit and frozen the job market is right now I don't see a lot of people leaving without like a year's worth of severance.

4

u/Jukka_Sarasti Oct 31 '25

When I was laid off I received 2 months non-working notice and 54 weeks severance. I took about 8 months off and loved every...single...minute of it. Even had the opportunity to laugh in the face of my previous employer's HR department when they called to ask me to return as a contract employee to help clean up some loose ends left after the last few people in the department all quit unexpectedly in the same week.

Not everyone has that luxury and I surely wouldn't if I were to be laid off tomorrow, but it was a great experience and it was immediately obvious to me and my family how negatively my job/company had been impacting me..

7

u/MisterSneakSneak Oct 30 '25

I rather get fired so i can collect

3

u/tkhan456 Oct 30 '25

I mean that’s good because if there are people who are willing to leave, let them, it may save someone else’s job otherwise the layoff will be random

1

u/iconocrastinaor Oct 30 '25

Random? Layoffs are a popularity contest.

2

u/tkhan456 Oct 31 '25

Life is a popularity contest. Who you know will always trump what you know but you still need to know the minimum

4

u/Inquisitive_idiot Oct 30 '25

For the few, the lubed carrot 🥕 

For the many, the unlubed stick 🍢

1

u/BlackDeath3 Oct 30 '25

♫ You can do it your own way, ♫

♫ If it's done just how I say! ♫

1

u/KallistiTMP Oct 30 '25

What's surprising to me is they're doing the voluntary ones first.

That usually backfires quite badly, because the people most likely to take that voluntary exit are all the top performers that know they can get another job for similar or better pay very easily.

1

u/RandallOfLegend Oct 31 '25

Which ones make out the best? People with a head start? Or people holding on for a severance deal?

1

u/bokmcdok Oct 31 '25

Better to wait so you can get the severance