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Comment by joekrill | Hacker News Reader

But I'm not suggesting they tell everyone the company is in dire straits and they are on the verge of getting fired. Just don't willfully lie to them on a daily basis and tell them that things are amazing and their jobs are totally secure. In my scenario, we weren't actively asking questions regularly. But they were offering the (mis)information on an almost daily basis.

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The prior post called it out. It's people in the decision making chairs who are choosing short-term stability over long -term trust.

>You know that people won't work as much. Will disengage. Will cause trouble and cost you money, time, efforts.

It may be jaded of me but I believe it's rare to see a company with management that actually has the courage to be transparent and fully honest with its employees. I find that a good smoke test to see what type of management your own company has is probing what people in your company think about "transparent salaries" where everyone knows what everyone else makes. You'll see some enlightening responses if you're privy to the conversations.

The minute they leak that there are layoffs coming, every talented individual is going to start spending all their time job hunting instead of working even if they weren't going to be laid off; likewise, untalented individuals will stop giving a shit. You also have security problems if you provide advanced notice. It is inevitable that the data will get leaked which will affect share price before a narrative can be composed, you give vindictive employees time to steal IP, data, or physical goods before they are out the door, and you provide a window of time for people to damage systems.

Unfortunately the best way to do it from the company's perspective is to be sudden and surgical, giving people 0 time to sabotage the company.

In my experience the actual axe coming down is done in a terse, bloodless manner for legal reasons. Up until that point, managers are comfortable being cordial. Managers I've known are terrified about being sued and decide being heartless is the safest option (for the company, and for them).

That's an american point of view, but in France not letting anyone know would actually make your more likely to be sued. Yet they have the same attitude.

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