this post was submitted on 04 May 2026
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I have only worked a handful of "traditional" jobs in which ai could do anything major, and even then it can't replace any job I had (in my opinion). But regardless, in none of my jobs have I had "too many" coworkers. The only time I'd say as much was when a company was hiring to preemptively fill roles they knew were going to be vacant. Although I did notice bigger companies had the perception they were overstaffed, because they also had no communication with lower rungs at all.
I worked for a company which "prepared for a growth spurt" by hiring +10% of the total workforce in sales specialized for an upcoming anticipated opportunity. Then the opportunity was delayed and the extra 10% literally were twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do. Then the opportunity went sour, very difficult sales compared to what was anticipated, but instead of backing down, they did a 10% RIF across the board. I left voluntarily after that, along with about 10% of the survivors of the RIF. Big talk of "back to work, business as usual, if you're still here we love you and will never let you go." Less than another year later, another 10% RIF.
10% hire, then a 10% RIF means you end up 1% down from where you started.
Yep - and it's all arbitrary, horse traded, biased, and judgemental anyway.
Place I worked would hire by DEI incentivized ratios (in 2005), but during a RIF those let go were overwhelmingly brown skinned... Also worth noting: they did +10% they couldn't afford, then within a year ended up doing -10% RIF followed by -10% voluntary exit during hiring freeze followed by another -10% RIF. But, the CEO and CFO did get their multi-million $ parachutes on their way off the top floor anyhow. All feedback after I left voluntarily was overwhelmingly in the direction of: good decision - those who remained were not rewarded and did not have fun doing everybody else's jobs.