[deweller]

As a layoff strategy, I would expect it to be counterproductive. The people most likely to quit skew toward high-performing individuals who feel confident in their ability to get a remote job elsewhere. And vice versa.

[roguecoder]

A lot of companies aren't trying to hire the "best" programmers. Places like Amazon won't let engineers use highly-skilled techniques anyway.

The high-profile RTO places tend to hire in bulk for programmers that will do as product tells them. Weeding out people who value quality over conformity is a goal.

[senderista]

I work with an Amazon engineer who has been working on storage systems since 1990 (NT kernel) and is an absolute wizard. He could probably write a durable concurrent B-tree in an afternoon.

[philwelch]

> Places like Amazon won't let engineers use highly-skilled techniques anyway.

I’m curious what you mean by this.

[marcosdumay]

Layoffs in profitable companies are always counterproductive.

At best, it signals the company is done with growth and is going for a high-profit, low investment (including low innovation) policy.

[jjk166]

That's not always true. Layoffs can spur growth if you are dropping dead weight, for example by eliminating under performing business units, consolidating redundant functionality, or simply correcting previous bad decisions that led to over-hiring.

[Malidir]

Depends on how it is measured as to whether it is a success.

[nickpp]

Sample of one, but around me best engineers came back to work soon after Covid ended, show up every day, communicate and collaborate.

The less productive are the ones dragging their feet, coming up with excuses to stay home and hide as much as possible from peer scrutiny.

Almost like best engineers enjoy coming and working with the team, while the worst dread it.

[marricks]

I’m sure the ones who love to suck up and don’t have a social life were chomping at the bit to come back, no doubt.