There are 5 types of biz resources, land, capital, technology, management and labor. Just find out the amount of work (in $) coming in now vs. last year. If less work, something has to give because there is not enough money to support the resources. In other words, close sites and sell real estate (land), reduce expenses (capital), sell product lines and patents (technology), and cut payroll (largest chunk of money is in headcount). The inverse, expansion, is also true during the boom years. In the oil patch, everyone is in the same boat as far as layoff is concerned. Work, to me, should be viewed as a string of 2-week tasks that a general contractor (company) hires an independent contractor (employee) to do. It is a fair value for value exchange withou long term obligatons. Unless covered by a long term contract, either party can cut the string at any time. This is reality vs rhetoric.
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and employees taking these layoffs personally should refer to Mr. Professor's sentence and I quote "Work, to me, should be viewed as a string of 2-week tasks that a general contractor (company) hires an independent contractor (employee) to do. It is a fair value for value exchange withou long term obligatons. Unless covered by a long term contract, either party can cut the string at any time. This is reality vs rhetoric." I too have been in the patch for over 30 yrs....and through some layoffs myself. It's not personal and usually after a year, I was called back to work. Hang in there. It will recover.
Good post Mr. Professor