How a company handles a layoff can significantly impact its future success. Poorly managed, a reduction in the workforce can damage a company’s reputation in an era where there are websites that allow laid-off employees to vent about their experiences.
Amazon is the latest tech company to lay off people. They are expected to lay off 20,000 people because reducing head count is always easier than finding new ways to do business. The tech industry has been hit extremely hard due to poor management, but I expect more layoffs for big companies.
Facebook has spent over $10 billion on a folly called the metaverse. Twitter is being run by someone who is a jerk, and Amazon has tried to get into so many different businesses that they have lost focus on what made them great.
Already we’re reading stories of people who are losing their livelihood at the worst possible time. The question is, will this affect their brands?
Facebook has been bleeding users for a long time, plus the public is keenly aware that they have lied to everyone about recent scandals. On the Internet, the product life cycle is compressed and happens very quickly. Twitter is in a death spiral as more and more advertisers abandon the platform. Some competitors are already popping up that will be glad to hire some of Twitter’s laid-off employees. Amazon? They tried to all things to everyone, but their core business suffered in the process. Many people are not getting their orders in one or two days anymore. They also overpaid to host Thursday Night Football and for some series that had lackluster ratings.
Unfortunately, employees pay the price for management mistakes. Wall Street doesn’t want to hear about building a business or foolish business endeavors. They want profitable growth, and if that means laying off people, then so be it.
Research predicts that e-commerce sales this holiday will not be as big as expected as people prefer to get back out of homes they have been locked down in the past two years. I guess that Twitter will declare bankruptcy and become irrelevant. Facebook? Zuck could have used the money he wasted on better AI development to flag hate speech and inaccurate information. I’m already noticing fewer posts in my feed, and ads are irrelevant.
Consumers tend to say, “they’re with the laid-off employees,” but it’s too damn easy to buy from Amazon. Twitter is experiencing fewer posts from the 20% responsible for 90% of the Tweets, and users continue to abandon Facebook.
These brands are self-destructing because they have poor leadership. A good leader anticipates change and positions the company to embrace new marketplace trends. Their leaders also hired too many people, believing their enormous growth would continue for decades.
The great resignation is still happening, but it’s changing significantly. Now people are looking for companies that help them grow and treat them as a valued resource rather than cube dwellers. It won’t change. There is a massive void for great leaders.
