to protect someone for whom HR decided to be laid off?
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Disagree with "Yeah managers know, they lie" - Several times I've been instructed to lay people off. I had zero input in who was let go, and no ability to change the people on the list. I'd usually get one or two days notice that it was happening. Best I could do was deliver the news as respectfully as I could.
The managers absolutely know and have to maintain a list of key employees basically. It does really suck on smaller teams where practically everybody is a rock star, but in the end, there will be someone retained over someone else for whatever reasons.
I left Oracle a few months ago. But about 1/3 of the people in my old 30-person department (marketing) were laid off this week.
Looking at the folks who were laid off (the ones I knew when I was there) - the people who were laid off were:
- supporting a business unit like CX or OMC that got obliterated
- low performer - known for a long time
- had given reason for managers to fire them but weren't (poor/inappropriate behavior)
- newish employees to the team who had joined within past year
- junior employees
Longtime and most productive employees were not touched. All firing decisions were not made by VP/Sr. Director in group (direct managers of those fired), rather by the department leader above that.
I realize not all layoffs worked that way, but that was how it came down in my old department. Direct managers were TOLD who to axe -- no say in the matter. They were also told per corporate layoff policy what to say (script).
Nobody knows you better than your manager, they know how much you earn, they know if you do your job, they should know what you are like to work with and at the end of the day have input in to whether you stay or go or at the very least rank you. We all do it every day with colleagues we know who to rely on and those we don’t. Any manager that says they don’t know is plain lying.
My manager (at oracle) knew the low performers, and you would know who you are. If you seem to get through your day without much pressure or work going on, there is a reason for it. Your manager is not assigning you work because he doesn’t believe you can do it, and probably doesn’t want you in front of a customer or working with other lob’s, because your not up to scratch, and you would be down the pecking order. If you are that person that is always busy and the work continues to come and seem to be involved with everything, you are probably up the list.
Oh and with the low performers, they don’t sack you or hire anyone new. They just wait for you to leave on your own while you b*$ch about not getting promoted or paid more, if not they wait for these situations and your get RIFd, and then just lie about not knowing about it, because deep down you are a nice enough person and I don’t have time to deal with it, because I got to deal with the other people that got RIFd as well, and got to keep up with the lie about not knowing.
Yeah managers know, they lie.
I was also told by manager about all the folks including great performers in my team who were laid off he had no say who should get laid off. Even the VP was blindsided about the restructuring. Looks like LE selected all the candidates for layoff.
HR didn't decide to lay any specific person off. The decision could have been made by the direct manager or 2 to 3 layers above but it most almost certainly made by someone close enough. Its always nice to hear the manager say "I did not know anything about this" - sometimes it is true, sometimes not. If the manager did not know, the manager might be a target - that's how it worked for me, but the manager over me almost certainly knew even before he scheduled my meeting the night before. What a ratbag. The POS above him absolutely knew. So don't believe that firing decisions were made by some anonymous useless HR person.