AI layoffs to backfire: Half quietly rehired at lower pay
https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/forrester_ai_rehiring/?td=rt-3aOpen linkView original on lemmy.caSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on lemmy.cahttps://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/forrester_ai_rehiring/?td=rt-3aOpen linkView original on lemmy.ca
16 replies
Backfire?
Sounds like they got exactly what they wanted.
They still get staffers for lower pay than before so it still saves them money..... Not sure that's a backfire from management standpoint.
They see this as an absolute win
What idiot is going back for less pay? Walk away and watch them suffer, they'll circle back around with more money on the table
That only works if you can afford to wait them out, and unfortunately far too many people are living paycheck to paycheck.
remember to work your wage and not your age though.
People that need a pay check, and can't find a job with pay at their previous rate. I was laid off recenlty, and all the "same jobs" I'm qualified or even vastly over-qualified for are only paying 50-70% of what I was making before the layoff.
I"m happy to watch that company "suffer", but the reality is, I was replaced with cheap off-shore labor.
They’re likely refilling the positions with different people who don’t know the job used to pay more.
Companies using disruption to take advantage of workers?
Aaand there's the actual motivation for "AI". Eliminate anyone who knows better, get rid of tenured people who command higher salaries, fire the next in line until some catastrophic failure, then re-hire at the lowest possible pay when people are desperate because they see similar layoffs happening everywhere. Now you have a cheaper work force that's scared and their tenure restarts at zero so you can avoid those pesky vesting period problems. They can argue about it in court, but they will not outlast a hoard of corporate lawyers.
Only half rehired? With lower pay? Exec, you just saved us 75% on human resources! Here's a bonus
What kind of dumb asshole goes back with lower pay?
People who need to a paycheck in order to live.
I understand that point. It just blows my mind to go back with lower pay.
Like "hey, we treated you like disposable trash and replaced you with a complicated auto complete algorithm that didn't quite work out how we expected. Please come back and fix our mistake. And to say we're sorry, you're getting less pay so we can further profit off of and devalue your labor."
I can see it if the choices are limited and they go back to what they know vs. starting over. The same thing baffles me more when someone gets fired illegally, sues, then regains their job via the court. Would you go back at that point even with more pay or the problems "fixed"?
Sometimes people are stuck and can't easily get unstuck. Sometimes people gravitate to what's simpler.
That seems like the opposite of backfiring though.