Ask HN: Who's Most Likely to Get Laid Off During Layoffs?

I've only been laid off once, and it was from one of the top 10 multinational companies in the world. Head office in New York decreed a headcount reduction. I was positively not highly paid and did above average work. I had an excellent relationship with both my direct manager and the country managing director. But my manager's manager disliked me for being outspoken and pushing back on bad decisions. So he made the effort to hit me with a heavy handed legal document and a generous severance payment.

Contrary to common opinion, I think that politics trumps concerns about performance or pay levels.

People in the part of the org that's cut. In my experience most layoffs aren't about cutting x% across teams, they're about the company deciding that they don't need entire functions altogether and getting rid of entire teams.

> Who's Most Likely to Get Laid Off During Layoffs?

Dave! Always a Dave pays the price! https://www.reddit.com/r/recruitinghell/comments/13qk89s/due...

last-in-first-out is often the way to go. In many jurisdictions, it is simply easier to fire your newer employees as certain employment protection rights only kick in after so many months or even years. Also, the newest people in are likely to be of some of the lowest immediate value to a company as new hires usually require training and expected to run at a loss for a while before eventually becoming useful and profitable. So I’d say you’re most likely to get laid off if you’ve just been hired. Life is kind of funny like that.

I think this varies so much between different companies that it's nearly impossible to make a blanket statement about it that would be useful.

Those that are under performing and those that are paid the most.