Regardless of individual opinions on whether CEOs should be terminated for layoffs or not - there's a surprising amount of comments here that seem to not understand that growing companies don't hire for today, but for where they want to be tomorrow. Where you want to be tomorrow is based on where you and your investors believe the world is going. If the world materially changes enough to shift your expectations about where it's going, then you change your plans (and headcount) accordingly.
In other words, when COVID hit and tech companies saw large surges because investors and CEOs saw industries leaping 5-10 years into the future overnight, they hired to support that growth. As the market has shifted and inflation combined with an end to the public health emergency has tempered growth expectations, investors and CEOs cut head count to match.
It sucks, and I'm not saying this is how it should be to those people who are impacted. But if you wait until the world is already where you thought it might be before you react and start building for that world, you're behind. Whether or not CEOs should be punished for getting the call wrong is what this post is about, but getting the call wrong sometimes is expected/necessary if you want to have a chance of getting it right.
In other words, when COVID hit and tech companies saw large surges because investors and CEOs saw industries leaping 5-10 years into the future overnight, they hired to support that growth. As the market has shifted and inflation combined with an end to the public health emergency has tempered growth expectations, investors and CEOs cut head count to match.
It sucks, and I'm not saying this is how it should be to those people who are impacted. But if you wait until the world is already where you thought it might be before you react and start building for that world, you're behind. Whether or not CEOs should be punished for getting the call wrong is what this post is about, but getting the call wrong sometimes is expected/necessary if you want to have a chance of getting it right.