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Originally Posted by gribble  Second, I have to disagree with this one. Mass hiring/layoff of staff is not normal business practice by any stretch of the imagination. |
Well, I spent about a decade working for [global mega-corporation], and my observations there and with the dozens of large corporations I worked with as clients, I have to say that layoffs are indeed normal.
For example, in my time at [global mega-corporation] I saw four waves of layoffs happen that effected my group, in addition to many others that effected other groups in other countries. Usually what would happen is the bean-counters would decide that each group across the country had to lose x% off their payroll to improve the financial reports for that quarter. Even groups that were performing above expectations would lose that x%.
Sure, they could tighten their belts in other areas, dip into financial reserves, etc. However, the problem is the perceptions that layoffs happen when a company is losing money. Sure, mass layoffs can happen then, but often the layoffs will happen when a company is making a profit, but isn't as profitable as they had projected. Dipping into cash reserves and other measures won't address this, but cutting payroll will. It will improve with quarterly reports, and Wall Street will reward them with higher share values.
Maybe this isn't the way it should be. I don't have an MBA, so I'll withhold comment on whether or not this is a smart way to do business. But from my observations, this is the way it is for a large number of corporations.
Hell, just google hasbro layoffs 2008 and you'll see that
WotC isn't the first Hasbro unit to get hit.
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