QOTD

Last go round as whole departments and projects were cut, some of the most skilled staffers in areas like interactive design, product management and program management were let go. In other words, you could be top talent on a project, but if that project was cut, honey, you were toast. Why would this go-round be any different? Since Yahoo is cutting by the numbers, we have to assume they’re going to let some of the strongest people go again, perhaps to try to (quietly) later rehire, as also happened last time. So think about it–when those self-satisfied announcements go out, about the ‘deep cuts and the bright future that lies ahead,’ those left without jobs in a deepening recession right before Christmas will have the comfort of knowing they weren’t let go because they were the bottom 10%, they were let go because their managers failed to convince their bosses that those projects were ones that mattered. And since the big bosses didn’t know most of those people, great talent was let go, while deadwood remained (and remained.)”

— Former Yahoo employee Susan Mernit says there’s no reason to think this round of company layoffs will be any different from the last round.