Employers have gotten plenty of bad press for botching layoffs. But some companies may be doubling down on a more impersonal approach to job cuts.
Since the pandemic normalized hybrid work and virtual communication, a number of companies have been emboldened to take a more impersonal approach to conducting layoffs. When Intuit cut 10% of its workforce last summer—framed as performance-related layoffs—employees were instructed to look out for a calendar invite that would indicate whether they were impacted. In April, Tesla informed its employees about layoffs through an email; some employees reportedly only learned they had been let go when they showed up to the office and found their badges no longer worked.
