#backdoorlayoff

What is currently happening at 3M in Poland looks very much like a mass layoff carried out without formally calling it a mass layoff.

Employees are being transferred to Genpact, where, in practice, their primary role is to transfer knowledge to teams in India. Once that knowledge transfer is completed, people are being let go one by one as their responsibilities disappear. The entire process feels very similar to what happened during the Solventum transition, but on a much larger scale and in a far more explicit way.

What is most disappointing is how people were treated today. Long-term employees who helped build these processes and contributed to the company's success were treated with very little respect or empathy. For many, it was a humiliating and deeply upsetting experience.

It is difficult to watch dedicated and experienced employees become disposable once their knowledge has been transferred. A very sad day for many people in Poland.

Deloitte mostly copies what we do, adds a few minor changes, and then presents the same work across other projects. They’re also very good at replicating our frameworks and showcasing them to other clients. I’m not sure why Yael Cosset and Jim Clendenen keep supporting hires from Deloitte, but it definitely feels like there’s some kind of Deloitte backchannel benefiting them.

At least four IT Infrastructure peeps were terminated without severance pay this week following an “investigation” for “policy violations”. Witch hunt in progress. Don’t give them any excuses.

Okta is at its dirty tricks again. They’re manufacturing reasons to fire employees who aren’t near an office so they can replace them with hybrid, cheaper employees. Chicken sh*t managers and Betsy Wetsy and the rest of HR are complicit. What dumpster fire of a company!

Jon Freier, Mike Katz, Deanne King, Jeff Simon, and of course, that loser at the top of the company.

Make sure this article gets shared far and wide.

“T-Mobile Faces Backlash After Axing US Jobs Amid Global Expansion Push Under New Indian CEO”

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/t-mobile-layoffs-cost-cutting-backlash-1790401

This is happening to a number of people, good people too and it really makes no sense when they keep hiring. This now seems a regular approach to making change happen whenever and wherever by whomever

This is their way of getting people to leave since they don’t want the black eye of laying off 30% of the workforce they don’t need. Playing chess no checkers. Don’t be a puppet

The leadership will wait to see how many people walk out due to RTO and other issues before they pull the trigger again. It's cheaper to find a way to get folks to leave than have to pay them to get them out.

Because Why Follow the Spirit of the Law When You Can Obey the Letter and Still Do Whatever You Want?

Below are additional methods — the ones HR whispers about, Legal pretends not to know about, and executives call “innovative workforce agility.”

1. The “Job Swap to Nowhere” Maneuver
A classic.
Step 1: Rewrite your job description.
Step 2: Add 14 new responsibilities requiring 6 certifications you don’t have.
Step 3: Tell you you’re “no longer aligned with the role.”
Step 4: Offer you a “transition plan” that ends in unemployment — but not a layoff.
Result:
You “failed to meet new job requirements,” so it’s not a layoff.
No WARN.
No SUI spike.
No severance.
Just vibes.

2. The “We’re Eliminating Your Role, But Not Your Job” Trick
Your role is gone.
Your job is gone.
Your desk is gone.
Your access badge is gone.
But technically, you weren’t laid off — because the company still has a job title that resembles yours somewhere in the org chart.
Result:
No WARN trigger.
No unemployment claim.
No SUI increase.
Just existential confusion.

3. The “Contractor Conversion” Shuffle
Companies love this one.
• Fire employees
• Hire contractors
• Claim “no reduction in workforce” because contractors don’t count
• Move all the work offshore anyway
Result:
Headcount drops.
WARN thresholds stay untouched.
SUI exposure evaporates.
Shareholders applaud.

4. The “Layoff by Spreadsheet Error” Strategy
A modern classic.
Step 1: Send an email saying you’re laid off.
Step 2: Send another email saying it was a mistake.
Step 3: Send a third email saying it wasn’t a mistake.
Step 4: Blame Workday.
Result:
Confusion = delay.
Delay = fewer claims.
Fewer claims = lower SUI tax rate.
Also, no WARN notice because “we’re still evaluating.”

5. The “We’re Not Closing the Site, We’re Just Not Using It” Move
The building is empty.
The lights are off.
The parking lot is a wildlife sanctuary.
But officially?
The site is “operational,” just “temporarily underutilized.”
Result:
No WARN notice for site closure.
No severance obligations.
No unemployment claims.
Just raccoons.

6. The “Mandatory Relocation to an Impossible Location” Gambit
“We’re excited to announce your role is moving to:
• A city with no housing
• A country requiring a visa you can’t get
• A location that doesn’t exist on Google Maps”
If you decline, it’s a voluntary resignation.
Result:
No WARN.
No SUI.
No problem (for them).

7. The “We’re Not Eliminating Jobs — We’re Eliminating Shifts” Technique
Cut hours by 49%.
Cut shifts.
Cut schedules.
Cut sanity.
But don’t cross the 50% threshold that triggers WARN.
Result:
Employees quit.
Company celebrates “natural attrition.”
SUI tax rate stays low.
WARN stays untriggered.

8. The “Reorg Matryoshka Doll” Strategy
Every time you ask what’s happening, you’re told:
“We’re in the middle of a reorg.”
Inside that reorg is another reorg.
Inside that reorg is another reorg.
Inside that reorg is your job disappearing.
Result:
Because no single reorg eliminates enough people at once, WARN never applies.

9. The “AI Made the Decision, Not Us” Defense
“We didn’t lay you off.
The algorithm did.”
AI doesn’t trigger WARN.
AI doesn’t file unemployment.
AI doesn’t increase SUI tax rates.
AI doesn’t need severance.
Result:
The perfect scapegoat.

10. The “We’re Offering You a New Role… in Theory” Maneuver
You’re “offered” a new role that:
• Doesn’t exist
• Has no manager
• Has no responsibilities
• Has no pay band
• Has no start date
When you ask questions, they say you’re “not demonstrating flexibility.”
Result:
You resign.
They celebrate.
WARN stays silent.

11. The “We’re Not Firing You, We’re Just Not Scheduling You” Method
Used heavily in retail and banking operations.
Cut someone’s hours to zero.
Tell them they’re still employed.
Wait for them to quit.
Result:
Voluntary resignation = no WARN, no SUI.

12. The “We’re Eliminating the Team, Not the People” Illusion
Disband the team.
Scatter employees into random roles.
Let chaos do the rest.
Result:
People leave on their own.
Company avoids WARN.
SUI stays low.
HR calls it “organizational agility.”

13. The “We’re Not Laying Off Americans — We’re Globalizing Talent” Euphemism
Move work offshore.
Don’t replace U.S. employees.
Let attrition do the heavy lifting.
Result:
No WARN.
No SUI.
No headlines.
Just a lot of confused Americans.

14. The “We’re Not Cutting Jobs — We’re Cutting Budgets” Loophole
Freeze hiring.
Freeze promotions.
Freeze raises.
Freeze morale.
Eventually, people leave.
Result:
Attrition = free layoffs.
WARN = untriggered.
SUI = stable.
Leadership = thrilled.

15. The “We’re Not Downsizing — We’re Transforming” Jedi Mind Trick
If you rename layoffs as:
• Transformation
• Optimization
• Realignment
• Rebalancing
• Recalibration
• Reinvention
• Re‑synergization
…then technically, you’re not laying anyone off.
Result:
Legal compliance through vocabulary.

The Final Truth

Here’s the real truth:
Corporations don’t avoid WARN and SUI by accident.
They avoid them with the precision of a surgeon and the empathy of a parking meter.
WARN isn’t a law to them — it’s a speed limit, and they’ve figured out exactly how fast they can go without getting a ticket.
SUI isn’t a tax — it’s a penalty for being too honest about layoffs, so they simply stop being honest.
They slice layoffs into tiny pieces like a corporate charcuterie board.
They downgrade performance ratings like they’re clearing out old inventory.
They “encourage resignations” with the enthusiasm of a timeshare salesman.
They relocate jobs to places employees can’t physically reach.
They automate roles using systems trained by the very people being replaced.
And then they smile and say:
“We’re transforming our workforce.”
Which is technically true —
in the same way a woodchipper transforms a tree.
That’s the savage truth:
The laws meant to protect workers have become the blueprint for how to eliminate them quietly, cheaply, and with enough plausible deniability to make even the legal department proud.

Most of the layoffs are not in the big rounds, but are happening in small, quiet batches. Combine that with demotions and people quitting, and we've lost so many without any fanfare. The total number of people gone has to be massive. It's a coward's way to downsize.

I've read several articles last year in which executives from companies that instituted RTO admitted that was their way of getting rid of people without having to pay them severance. They know we don't want RTO. They know that full well. That's not a bug, that's a feature. They're hoping we'll quit. Please don't do them any favors.

I heard some rumours that we will be back for more days in the office since February even if you had some deal with manager about this. Do you have any more info?

Five peeps in 2 weeks terminated, not laid off. I’m not convinced all of them went through performance improvement process. We know job reductions are coming in 2025, is this the norm so they don’t have to pay severance?

“Laid” off as part of a small wave of layoffs has n 2025.
Usual pattern:
layoff 20 +/- employees to avoid WARN notice requirements.
80% of employees “laid off” are over 40
Require employees to sign Separation and Release agreement to receive pay for accrued vacation and a not so generous severance of 2 weeks thus avoiding EEOC reporting.
Wait for review period of separation and release to expire.
Advertise same position and hire a younger employee to fill position.
Rinse and repeat.

Corporate America back to its old tricks.

The obfuscating language is always telling. Just like calling a janitor a sanitation engineer is a fiction meant to obscure the job, "forever layoffs, micro firings" and such are meant to hide the real thing.

NEVER keep your layoff a secret. Just like you should discuss your paycheck, and your employer cannot legally stop you, you should discuss when your employer lets you go so everyone can know that the company is avoiding their legal responsibilities for unemployment and severance.

https://youtu.be/4Dd33C4k-Zs

The issue with big corporations is that they have a one-size fits all approach to their employees, which lets face it - it's the least effective model. The responses from this post is proof of this. Good companies, take the time to take a macro look at what works for each department. Sure, it makes sense that creatives and productive teams would benefit from being in the office 5 days a week, but so many other departments, finance, legal, etc., would probably do well with 2 to 3 days a week. Their deliverables do not depend on staff being in the office every day. Companies that employ RTO is not really about collaboration or bringing everyone together. It's a tactic. To force people out (called a backdoor layoff - you can look it up) and to create a controlled office labor. Check out those companies that have done this in the last few years - isn't it odd, those announcements come with public admission of issues in the company, along with huge layoffs?

Good post. Putting it up for visibility.
OP: @am+1kakpjk0y

If it’s true that a full RTO mandate is coming in January, that’s what will really hit us. They’ll 100% set the requirements so they’re impossible, or near impossible, for a lot of people to meet, fully aware that everyone will bend over backwards to comply given the job market. RTO will just become another way to push people out without calling it cuts.

Curious what people’s opinions are with the new 4 day mandatory in office policy update. I get that it makes sense since it’s an office supplies company but there are plenty of teams that don’t even do 3 days now. Is this a ploy to avoid layoffs in hopes that enough employees quit to make up the deficit?

Home office positions including technology. Hybrid associates especially. Full remote seems safe for now. This smells of a soft layoff, where they do not have to pay severance.

I heard that all contractors currently have 11/30 as the last day for their contract and leadership hasn’t communicated with any of the contracting companies about extensions.

Anyone know if this is management being slow to communicate, or if we’re going to cut all the contractors loose in a month?

Whatever the pros and cons of using contractors instead of hiring FTEs, the reality is there are teams that have a lot of contractors on them (especially in IT) who are going to have trouble absorbing the workload if those people disappear in a month.

I guess that assumes any of us will be here, sure. But setting that aside, is this a de facto layoff or is there some other plan?

In 2015, I heard most team members laid off like 60-80% had to be hired back. Are the odds high that we will be asked to come back again like before 3-6 months from now in 2026?

Would you guys come back to target if part of layoffs this year or it wouldn’t be as chill as before since CULTURE su-ks now compared to back in day???

Seemed kind of quiet the past few layoffs- is there a certain month that typically is the highest month for layoffs ?

With management now openly changing the role of SEs on the field and expecting them to perform tasks and duties that are outside their typical role and certainly not inline with their original job description, it is now more clear then ever what the intentions are. The expectation to line up 6-9 customer meetings every week between existing customers would mean that you would be meeting with each customer every month. Most customers dont want to meet every month... specially if they are not buying anything new. Management knows this already and is using this to decide who they can put on PIP and ultimately "fire" for poor performance without having to pay them a package. Lets face it, we are in revenue decline because of mismanagement and now the employees are expected to pay the price. Many of which have been with the company for a long time and have contributed a lot over the years and now are being given the short end of the stick. If the headcount is in need of adjustment, why not at least do the noble thing and pay people their package? I am willing to bet that if they asked employees to volunteer for a layoff and still get a package the majority of employees would take the offer. This would show the reality of how low the employee morel is and how poor the company is being managed. Perhaps, this would make it difficult for KKR to sell Omnissa to a potential buyer once it became evident how things are running in here.

P24 seems like a golden age now that Project Mongoose is in effect. Instead of (for most countries) voluntary redundancy, your name and role are on a list. Works council stated this will be an annual thing. So much for the feeling of community at SAP. Also when did the T4 level become poison? Speaking informally with HR T4 positions are not really sought after. T1, T2 highly sought. It's brutal out here now.

Has anyone been able to successfully reverse RA because manager gave false and misleading reasons for RA (non performances based) and instead onboarding a new replacement from a vendor he has known for a while. had several good performance reviews and emails before RA. I don’t get the motivation to do this as there were no complaints against my work . How likely is this to happen

Anybody have the inside scoopetypoop?

What's your take on the CX Americas RTO for RTP and Richardson? Is this just a way for Cisco to avoid LRs in Q1 by enacting a RTO? They estimate a certain amount of employees will resign anyway, so Cisco doesn't seem like the bad guy since they won't be doing LRs. Just a fancy way of HR and Legal to escape looking bad. We're onto you.