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Amazon to lay off 10,000 employees.
- Thread starter Jampy00
- Start date
It seems to me it's not really a trend, that these all have different "reasons" behind them
Meta: Could argue that it is reeling in slightly all itsephemeral ethereal esoteric dumb plans for expansion into or inventing of new fields
Twitter: Musk intentionally driving the company into bankruptcy with bad decisions to free himself of a lot of debt. Or he's just actually very stupid
Lyft: Just not doing as well as they'd like
Amazon though? 10,000 employees for one of the most successful companies on the earth? Knee-jerk cynical reaction is that it's an intermediate step in a nefarious plan to convert even more of its workforce into "contractors"
Meta: Could argue that it is reeling in slightly all its
Twitter: Musk intentionally driving the company into bankruptcy with bad decisions to free himself of a lot of debt. Or he's just actually very stupid
Lyft: Just not doing as well as they'd like
Amazon though? 10,000 employees for one of the most successful companies on the earth? Knee-jerk cynical reaction is that it's an intermediate step in a nefarious plan to convert even more of its workforce into "contractors"
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I think it's the normal cycle for high-valuation, high-growth companies. Their energy gets focused on growing, shareholders reward growth when it's surging, so little expense is spared. As growth forecasts start to taper off, management starts looking at productivity and expense management, this keeps profits rolling along.
It's just good business. Don't feel sorry for the employees, they were likely enjoying great compensation for jobs that were never intended to be there forever. They'll go back to their regularly scheduled programs.
It's just good business. Don't feel sorry for the employees, they were likely enjoying great compensation for jobs that were never intended to be there forever. They'll go back to their regularly scheduled programs.
We have other threads where there is a lot of discussion on waste in the public sector....
Anyone that has worked in a true multi-billion dollar company that has also been exposed to the public sector knows the waste is just as bad in megacap private. The only difference IMO is the private sector will make cuts or reorg every 5 to 10 years. The fat cutting is usually not strategic (expect maybe at the micro level to get rid of someone they do not like during the blood letting), just numbers and far too random. The worst part for the private sector though, all this breeds instability and they also bleed people that are valuable as they can get other jobs.
Anyone that has worked in a true multi-billion dollar company that has also been exposed to the public sector knows the waste is just as bad in megacap private. The only difference IMO is the private sector will make cuts or reorg every 5 to 10 years. The fat cutting is usually not strategic (expect maybe at the micro level to get rid of someone they do not like during the blood letting), just numbers and far too random. The worst part for the private sector though, all this breeds instability and they also bleed people that are valuable as they can get other jobs.
I've worked for mid and large cap companies ($150B USD), and I disagree. Although there is wastage, it is *nowhere* near the amount in public sector. Also, if you compare waste vs revenue, the private sector does a much better job of keeping the cost-to-income ratio low.
Couple of reasons:
- the company is beholden to its shareholders. Public sector is beholden to nobody. Changes in elected leadership rarely affects the bottom line for public services.
- also, the mantra for private sector is "spend money to make money". The mantra for public is "spend money or you'll lose that budget next fiscal cycle"...
IDK about that. I know that when Doug Ford first came into office, leaders in provincial services definitely were motivated to not look bad, because he was hungry for stuff to cut. Not an endorsement of him in any way
I work in a tiny department in a huge private company. That axe swings nearby every now and then but always misses us. Sometimes I wonder if it's strategic, or if it's chance. If it ever hit us but missed me, I would still probably quit on the spot because I can count all the steps in the miserable dance for the two years after
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I don't think all large-cap companies have a lot of waste. They certainly are not as productive as well run small businesses, and they do suffer some of the same employee challenges as govt's, but they do have to answer to owners and they do have to keep focus on profit.
Large companies become procedural, lots of people doing the same job, and jobs are narrower in scope than in smaller businesses. Small businesses might have one person that handles packaging, shipping and receiving -- and another crosstrained for the role. A large company might have 30 people packaging, 30 shipping and 30 receiving, and another 100 that have experience in those roles - rarely does anyone in the workforce become highly valuable to the company (although employees don't always think that way). RIFs are easy for big companies -- we're cutting 10 packagers, 10 shippers and 10 receivers -- pick your cuts by the end of the day, say goodbye tomorrow. A small firm has to do a lot more thinking when they are faced with a RIF as the consequences of a bad cut could be high.
I worked in sales for a vendor for the last 12 years of my career. One of the verticals we serviced was government and I remember every March we used to make the rounds at all the federal and provincial offices, because that's the government's end of fiscal year.
We used to call it "shaking the tree" because any unused budget had to be spent by March 31st, or they would suffer through a review and mostly have their budget cut for the next year.
It was basically Christmastime for the vendors because all the gov branches would be in a frenzy to drain their budgets on the most useless, frivolous HW, SW and services as long as it fell below a certain threshold for approval/oversight. But as a vendor, there were ways of shuffling the numbers on the invoice around so that we could work around these restrictions...
Your tax dollars hard at work.
We used to call it "shaking the tree" because any unused budget had to be spent by March 31st, or they would suffer through a review and mostly have their budget cut for the next year.
It was basically Christmastime for the vendors because all the gov branches would be in a frenzy to drain their budgets on the most useless, frivolous HW, SW and services as long as it fell below a certain threshold for approval/oversight. But as a vendor, there were ways of shuffling the numbers on the invoice around so that we could work around these restrictions...
Your tax dollars hard at work.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I remember those days too (we called it March Madness). I was selling DEC computers, one year we got so many last minute orders I had to drive a 5ton Uhaul to Ottawa full of computers an terminals. When I got there to unload, I saw goods in the warehouse that we shipped to them 2 years prior.
It was also common for companies to ship to empty boxes so they could invoice before deadline. Govt buyers never complained, most didn't know or care as the stuff wasn't needed, most was in office storage.
If you know the drill, you can make out like a bandit.
I got the impression the schools had a wish list drawer. At end of year they took the money remaining in their budget and picked the things that would add up to the amount. Carpet for the staff room, new windows in the gym, etc.
Insurance companies are private but government controlled so can balance their budgets by government agreements. That means sloppy work ethics can be fudged into a rate increase. My wife worked for an insurance company. She actually worked there but a lot of employees just went in for the free wifi.
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I don't know about any other industries, but for IT, education has the worst budget. They work on a shoestring compared to DND, HRDC, etc. We went into a few different school boards a few times, never sold a thing. Couldn't afford anything. Universities and some of the larger colleges have slightly better budgets, but they're mostly privately funded.
I've heard of teachers having to buy classroom supplies out of their own pocket. If that's an indication of the budget for the education system in general, I'm not surprised...
My high school blew any budget at some point during the year. There was a locked room full of expensive things that were purchased to maintain budget but they had no specific purpose and many never made it back out of the room before they were obsolete.
ifiddles
Well-known member
@nobbie48 yeah, no....been teaching since 2005 and never have I seen carpets for the staff room, new windows in the gym etc...if anything, we have to fund raise throughout the year in order to purchase resources for the kids...and yes, @Lightcycle has it right, we do spend a lot of our own money on stuff for our classrooms...
I've installed the windows. Sadly I've heard of teachers in the lower grades buying art supplies out of their own pockets.
A good friend of mine told me a story how his wife who works for a dept. of he federal govt. One day all employees were sent home with boxes of photocopy paper, as the fiscal year was ending. It was either take it home, or its going into the garbage (or recycling I would hope). Some asked "why can't we just leave it in the office" to which the supervisor answered "Because we wont get as much next year..."
That's right, get penalized for "saving".
Sad and very inefficient way of running a business, private or public.
That's right, get penalized for "saving".
Sad and very inefficient way of running a business, private or public.
It was years ago , conservation Halton had an auction , brand new outboards and tin boats , 4 wheelers, heavy equipment, power tools , all surplus, bought to spend out budget money. I had sold them thousands of dollars worth of power tools .
Private companies do some crazy also , I’m in one , but it’s thier money.
Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
Private companies do some crazy also , I’m in one , but it’s thier money.
Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I sold IT to education (messaging services, video and KSR terminals, small computers). Most had healthy budgets, but the funds were chewed up in payroll for too many staff doing too little. More than one school board we dealt with an email server administrator in each school to run their Banyan Vines e-mail systems. A few years later they outsourced the whole shebang but kept the email admins -- they had nothing to do for years.
A) In private industry, stock sitting on the shelves is money sitting on the shelves. If it gets written off it becomes a loss and reduces taxes. If the stock is an obsolete product, dumping it makes sense.
B) Large companies don't have the flexibility to run flea markets so selling the stuff for pennies to a discount / salvage outfit puts it on the market, freeing up storage space costing $15 per square foot per year.
C) Win, win, win if the stuff was purchased far enough back that no one remembers who signed the original P.O.
Mezzanine: Storage place for executive mistakes. See "C" above.
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