Layoffs

People who add value are generally safer than people who manage them. It’s always easier to, in the short term, fire managers without affecting the amount of work that gets done too much. Also, upper management postpones laying off the people that are the hardest to rehire as long as possible. An intern is easier to find than a good manager who is easier to find than a good staff level engineer.

You’re at higher risk for layoff if:

• You aren’t very well-liked socially.
• You had “meets expectations” or lower on last performance review. In other words, you are an underperformer.
• You are a good performer, but you are high maintenance in other areas for people with authority and they would rather not deal with it anymore.
• Your project or team is not a priority.
• You recently joined and haven’t had enough time to build a reputation.
• You are expensive.

If you anticipate layoffs, try to get laid off. You want to go in the first round of layoffs; the company has the most money at this point so you will get the best severance they can offer! You don’t want to be in the last round of layoffs. You will get no severance pay. You can literally just ask your manager directly about the state of layoffs and that you were considering moving on anyway. He can let upper management know and they will be glad to cut expenses without the bad PR that generally comes with it.