Comment Re:Good (Score 1) 300
Only if you keep it a big secret why the people were fired.
No matter why they were laid off they'll never say who's next in line if conditions don't improve, they need to keep that ambiguous to maintain order. Otherwise you'll have business units and/or employees that feel their heads are on the chopping block and seriously disgruntled, not just an ominous threat. Everybody needs to be made believe that if they work hard and pull the business around their job can be saved.
Meanwhile, not firing those people promptly, and keeping them around to cause problems shows other people that they don't have to work to get paid. Isn't that bad for morale, at least, of your most useful and productive people? I'd think it would be better for them to see the dead weight cut away.
Perhaps if you thought the people fired were those who deserve to be fired and not the result of office politics, ass-kissing, nepotism, mindless cost-cutting (our workers are too expensive, cut the high end), short-sightedness (let's outsource to India) or whatever latest fad found in a trade magazine. Whenever management announces layoffs almost everybody worries and starts focusing on how they can preserve their own ass, regardless of the consequences for the team or company.
My pay check is not that influenced by dead weight, I hardly believe that once they're done weeding out the unworthy they'll be handing out raises for the rest of us. Winding up laid off on the other hand would have pretty big consequences for my personal economy, even if it's irrational or unfair or based on a flawed perception of reality. That they're very reluctant and slow at letting people go is not a purely negative trait when you're looking for a safe haven and steady paycheck, with a solid buffer until you're at risk.