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There used to be an unwritten, implicitly-understood rule that you should never mention that you were laid off, but treat it like a dirty secret. That may have been good advice for the previous century, when layoffs were viewed as rare events where low performers were fired all at once, but it’s woefully out of date now.

If you think there’s a stigma attached to being laid off or are feeling shame for having been laid off, this article is for you! Here are five reasons why there’s no stigma nor shame in being laid off.

Reason 1: Big Tech overhired

The theme of the past few years has been “growth, growth, growth,” which was driven by:

1. An amazing bull run in the market that followed the financial crisis of 2007-8,
2. the end of the Zero Interest Rate Period of 2009 – 2022, where the central banks of G7 countries were lending money at rates so low they were practically zero, and
3. the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown.

These market conditions made it possible for a lot of tech companies to hire like crazy — especially the big players:

The problem came when those conditions changed. We now have:

1. Higher interest rates,
2. inflation (especially with food and housing), and
3. some analysts predicting a recession,

all of which are leading people and corporations to spend less. Suddenly, the people from those big hiring sprees became big liabilities.

One of the solutions to this problem is laying people off, and the tech industry’s been doing this with gusto — in the US alone, they laid off a quarter million in 2023, and 40,000 in just the first two months of 2024.

When laying off this many people, it’s not enough to simply cut the lowest performers in your ranks. You also have to get rid of your pricier employees, which means a lot of good performers and even people I consider to be superstars in their domain have been laid off. I’ve lost count of the number of times in the past few months I’ve said “No! Not you!” when surprised by an exemplary person in the tech industry announcing on LinkedIn that they were looking for work.

Remember, even this person, after working hard, showing extreme dedication to the job, and telling the world about that extreme dedication, got laid off:

Reason 2: The market is rewarding companies that do big layoffs

In the previous century, companies did layoffs when they were unprofitable. But these days, companies laying people off are showing profits in their quarterly reports, and investors are rewarding them for it.

The reason this is happening is that layoffs are now a form of corporate virtue signaling. They say “See? We’re cutting costs! We’re increasing efficiency!” And as a result, those company’s share prices are going up. For example, Meta’s stock price has nearly tripled, Spotify’s is up by 30%, and even my former employer’s share price is up $20 since the beginning of the week (good thing I exercised those options!).

Now if you were a company and your investors rewarded you for doing something, would you do more of it for as long as you could? Of course you would.

Reason 3: Vanilla CEOs following “Space Karen’s” lead

When Elon Musk took over Twitter/X, he instituted mass dismissals in a spectacular and clown show-like way, including the infamous choice he presented to his employees:

1. Stay and be “hardcore,” committing to long hours at high intensity, where “only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade,” or
2. Leave and take three months’ salary.

You might recall how I posed this choice:

Even with a drastic reduction in personnel and egomaniacal mandates given to the remaining staff, Twitter/X still works. It’s a Nazi-plagued hellsite, but it does work, and in late-stage capitalism, the bottom line is all that matters.

As a result, a number of tech company leaders, many of whom are “Vanilla CEOs,” saw Musk’s move and were inspired to do the same.

Don’t believe me? See these articles:

• 89% of Firms Say Elon Musk Inspired Them To Try Layoff Alternative
• Elon Musk says other tech companies should lay off employees like he did at Twitter
• Big Tech Companies Are Testing How Far They Can Slash Staff

Vanilla CEOs tend to look at what other CEOs are doing, and follow suit. This is driving a lot of layoffs.

Thanks a lot, Space Karen. You are my alma mater’s worst alumnus.

ℹ️ Wondering what a “Vanilla CEO” is? Watch this video.

Reason 4: A.I.

There’s also the temptation of “employees” that you don’t have to pay…

In a recent episode of his No Mercy/No Malice audio series, business professor Scott Galloway describes AI as “Corporate Ozempic” — as in the hot new weight loss drug that works by supressing cravings. Like Ozempic, you’re adopting AI to “trim the fat,” but you’re also doing it in secret.

Galloway writes:

CEOs are being coy about this, at least in public, because there’s a sense of fear surrounding the brave new world of AI. The illusionist’s trick in the Valley right now is getting the media to look over there (trimming fat) while they’re stuffing the rabbit into the hat here (replacing it with AI). In the next several quarters, however, I believe CEOs will come out in  earnings calls and put it bluntly: “We’re going to be a smaller company that does more business thanks to AI.” Pundits will clutch their pearls for a hot minute until the stock explodes, and the secret hiding in plain sight will be visible to everyone. It’s corporate Ozempic. It’s not about less bread, but less craving for bread. Read: hiring people.

Reason 5: You’ll blend in

With a quarter-million U.S. techies laid off since the start of 2023 — Yours Truly included — if you’re laid off, you’re not an outlier or a freak. You’re just one of many.

There is no stigma nor shame in being laid off

As I wrote in an earlier post in this series, Unearned consequences, “If you’re in a layoff-induced moment of despair, remember that you’re probably facing the consequences of someone else’s mistakes.”

Or, as I also wrote in the same article:

The decision-makers at companies making these layoffs sound like Lord Farquaad from Shrek: “Some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

Remember this as you go about your job search — there is no stigma nor shame in your being laid off. Just say that you’re part of the ongoing layoff trend.

Coming up next

Job search tips and tricks!

Also in this series…

• Laid off in 2024, part 1: The 15 worst minutes of 2024, followed by 15 more
• Laid off in 2024, part 2: First referrals and blue dragons
• Laid off in 2024, part 3: How are you doing?
• Laid off in 2024, part 4: Make the Year of the Blue Dragon YOUR year!
• Laid off in 2024, part 5: The next two weeks
• Laid off in 2024, part 6: The separation agreement / Money, money, money
• Laid off in 2024, part 7: Join me on “Surviving a Layoff” this Wednesday!
• Laid off in 2024, part 8: Step one — get a box…
• Laid off in 2024, part 9: The box came back, the very next day…
• Laid off in 2024, part 10: Unearned consequences
• Laid off in 2024, part 11: The dreaded non-disparagement clause
• Laid off in 2024, part 12: Lessons from “The Martian” and other notes
• Laid off in 2024, part 13: One day, in retrospect, you’ll remember this time as beautiful