Do Layoffs Fix Anything, or Do We Have Them Because Everyone Else is Doing It?

Do Layoffs Fix Anything, or Do We Have Them Because Everyone Else is Doing It?

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 6 minutes

Take a hard look at what leaders are saying about layoffs and what they focus on. Do they seem personally hurt and concerned for the people leaving? Do they have honest and transparent explanations for why they made these decisions? Or do they repeat platitudes about “recession,” costs, and other bits of financial jargon to explain away something so painful to the same people they were calling part of the family a week ago?

Families don’t cut the number of kids when money gets tight. Your workplace is not a family and does not deserve a level of commitment that matches your family or your health. Layoffs are sometimes necessary, but mostly just a nice tool to perk up the value of a company for a specific part of the structure or to make up for mistakes made by the same people making these job cuts.

That’s business. I’ve argued for years that business has a vested interest in employee well-being. Caring about your people is how you get their best. I hope leaders will continue to grow in that regard, but as an individual employee, you need to care about yourself more. If your job isn’t meeting your career needs in terms of money, development, or work-life balance, find a better one. You owe them nothing. They pay you to do a job until they decide not to. You owe them that work.

That is all.

Bad Managers Cause Poor Mental Health

Bad Managers Cause Poor Mental Health

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

Think about it, someone in management who has never learned how to communicate will have a team unaware of what is happening. Leaders who follow the examples of those above them, who’ve created a misogynistic culture, will continue with the same practices. When things don’t go smoothly, managers getting berated from above will berate the people below them. And on and on it goes. 

If we want a healthier, open, and inclusive workplace, we need to train the people in charge of setting the tone and the culture. All the lunchtime yoga and meditation in the world can’t overcome that shortcoming. 

Linked – Research: Where Managers and Employees Disagree About Remote Work

Linked – Research: Where Managers and Employees Disagree About Remote Work

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

They point out a hypothetical situation where the employee looks at their “work” day to include the commute and maybe some other time, but the manager isn’t. That’s a huge disconnect. Speaking for myself, I will never volunteer to go back to an in-office or even a hybrid position because of how much time you spend going back and forth and the limiting factor of needing to be in that place for the entire time in between. Why? If the work can get done from anywhere, why would we expect anyone to spend so much time going somewhere else every day?

What if Everyone Has Imposter Syndrome?

What if Everyone Has Imposter Syndrome?

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

That’s quite a short list of really successful people who all felt the same way you and I feel. Like we don’t really know what we’re doing, or that eventually someone will find out that we don’t belong. 

So, the next time you think you don’t belong, remember that you’re in good company with that feeling, and go on anyway. 

Linked – Managers Should Encourage Employee Development

Linked – Managers Should Encourage Employee Development

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

The article below mentions something we’ve all seen way too many times. The manager who gets promoted, but never developed any of their reports to do their job, and winds up having to continue doing it. In the worst-case scenario, since the culture was not to develop people to replace you, that person is probably also learning the new role from scratch while still doing a large chunk of their old role.

What a waste of time and talent.