Software Engineering Tidbits

Software Engineering Tidbits

Share this post

Software Engineering Tidbits
Software Engineering Tidbits
Layoffs
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Layoffs

Georges El Khoury's avatar
Georges El Khoury
Jan 15, 2023
1

Share this post

Software Engineering Tidbits
Software Engineering Tidbits
Layoffs
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

A sad topic for today: Layoffs.

Layoffs are necessary when the future of a company is at risk and need to reduce its expenses to survive and compete in the marketplace.

They are unfortunate but a necessary evil for the continuation of the company.

Managers in layoffs have two responsibilities:

First to deliver the news to the impacted employees.

Second is to reassure and reenergize remaining ones.

It is important to be compassionate but direct while delivering the news. A new manager should practice their message prior to the announcement. They should explain the why and the how for both the impacted and the non impacted who will be watching closely.

It is crucial to identify who was and was not impacted as soon as possible. Announcing layoffs and lingering on identifying who will be impacted is absolutely awful for the productivity and the morale of the team.

Hence the importance of tight lips while planning the layoffs in upper management.

It is also important to communicate clearly and have management available and accessible for the larger team. This is a time of high uncertainty and having management around is valuable and comforting for the remaining employees.

A generous severance when possible is also incredibly helpful. It shows that the company cares about its employees and will be appreciated by the impacted and non impacted ones

During Airbnb layoffs in the beginning of the Covid pandemic, although I was not impacted, I witnessed how generous they were. I think they pioneered accelerated vesting for the impacted employees. I will never hesitate or feel bad about staying in an Airbnb because of this.

On a personal level, the manager should reach out to his personal network and try to refer impacted employees especially the good ones that were just impacted for financial reasons.

This goes a long way in helping impacted employees and build a lasting relationship with the impacted employee and the manager.

After doing the announcements and going thorough the layoffs, a manager should move into comforting the existing team members and explain to them the roadmap and how the company is set for success having gone through the layoffs.

Another incredibly important practice here for the credibility of the management and the health of the company is to avoid doing layoffs multiple times.

It is extremely destabilizing for the company. Hence the need to cut deep and wide when doing layoffs to avoid the need of doing another one in the future.

Companies that goes through layoffs when done in a compassionate and correct manner might emerge stronger, leaner and more competitive out of them.

Unfortunately the opposite is also true and when done incorrectly can lead to loss of talent and spiral the company into bankruptcy.


Software Engineering from the Frontlines Course on Maven

If you liked this article, I will be teaching a “Software Engineering from the Frontlines” course on Maven where I will teach hard-learned lessons I acquired developing large-scale products at companies such as Uber, Airbnb, and Microsoft.

View Course


Thanks for reading Software Engineering Tidbits! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Jose Barrera's avatar
1 Like
1

Share this post

Software Engineering Tidbits
Software Engineering Tidbits
Layoffs
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
A good unit test
A good unit test should be:
Feb 20, 2023 • 
Georges El Khoury
18

Share this post

Software Engineering Tidbits
Software Engineering Tidbits
A good unit test
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
5
A good way to debug
One of the best software engineering tip I received is a good way to debug.
Apr 28, 2022 • 
Georges El Khoury
16

Share this post

Software Engineering Tidbits
Software Engineering Tidbits
A good way to debug
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
2
Outage Management
Outage management is a core skill for a software engineer to acquire and is critical to achieve high availability of an online service.
Feb 13, 2023 • 
Georges El Khoury
13

Share this post

Software Engineering Tidbits
Software Engineering Tidbits
Outage Management
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
3

Ready for more?

© 2025 Georges El Khoury
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.