There's bitterness and angst in posts on this site and in the reorg meeting this morning about why there was no notification, managers kept in the dark, no explanations of criteria for who got the axe. I'm not a manager or corporate officer or consultant at GPN, just an individual contributor employee. However, at one time I was a corporate officer at a large $20B+ US publicly traded corporation that grew through mergers and acquisitions and went through multiple rounds of organizational change, always accompanied by RIFs. I can offer some perspective on the constraints that go along with that role.
- GPN is a publicly traded company. There are strict rules, laws, limiting the sharing of insider information that might affect the share price. Detailed information on a layoff, prior to its announcement, is a textbook example of insider information that can't legally be shared outside of the board and corporate officer group. In particular, the timing of such an event would need to be held in the strictest confidence. That alone likely explains middle management's lack of direct involvement in the decision process and lack of notification.
- Even as a corporate officer, I did not necessarily have the last word on who was impacted by layoffs in my teams. The US is a litigious culture when it comes to even the appearance of discrimination. EEOC complaints and lawsuits do not require proof of intent. They can succeed simply by statistical demonstration of inequity impacting protected categories. So, HR is always heavily involved in the decision process. They will do the statistical analysis and may recommend adjustments to minimize the litigation risk to the corporation, in the aggregate.
This is not to minimize the very real pain that those who lost their jobs this week are experiencing. Believe it or not, many, perhaps most, senior leaders struggle with these decisions for that reason. Those that are capable of empathy will feel that pain too, much like parents feel their children's pain. Many burn out because of this. This is the very reason I am now an individual contributor and will never go back to a line leadership position. (That said, they are quite well compensated, so I wouldn't feel too sorry for them.)