the people who would leave after a layoff can do so preemptively, perhaps saving headcount for someone else?

The problem is that such voluntary separation programs tends to disproportionate attract high performers. You're losing the "10x engineer" who has stuck around because they like being here - despite getting attractive offers from the competition.

The mediocre people who dread looking for a new job during a hidden recession aren't going to leave. They can't afford the risk of not being able to find a new place of employment before the severance pay runs out.

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makeitdouble 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

These high performers will leave anyway if they see their environment drastically changing or feel the tide turning, except they'll do so months after you ripped the band-aid.

It's not that different from making it part of the process in the first place.

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knollimar 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't think people doing layoffs are thinking far ahead. In my unqualified opinion, it's either to stop burn or to generate short term profit.

Neither of these groups are valuing long term expertise

	▲	crote 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		If they were thinking far ahead, they wouldn't need to do any firing at all - they would've gradually adjusted their hiring policy in time to avoid it.

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jrochkind1 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

if you don't like the new direction you can leave now and get the known now severance package. All in all, I think it is right to offer people voluntary severence with package when you pull the rug out from under them as far as where they thought they were working.

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SpicyLemonZest 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's defensible to have a voluntary separation program with clear terms. Microsoft, for example, announced on April 23 that a voluntary separation program would launch on May 7. On that day they announced the precise terms of separation, with affected employees given until June 8 to participate. Perfectly reasonable.

What Gitlab is announcing here is that employees need to apply for a separation, at a yet-to-be-determined time under still-unknown terms, without a guarantee of acceptance, in the next 7 calendar days. Much different and just so much worse.

	▲	Lihh27 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		the order here is backwards. publish the package first and let people apply without committing. right now GitLab gets the signal before employees even get the terms.

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starkparker 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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