The purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk is being followed by mass layoffs.
For me and probably others, the potential changes (including the abandonment of the platform by many of my followers) is likely to present a challenge. Its one of the ways I receive and then share information.
But for many employees of Twitter, the challenge is far more direct and challenging. They may lose their jobs with (apparently) next to no notice.
All of this brings back memories, especially two situations where risk was not properly considered when the company that employed me made significant workforce reductions.
In the first, I recall one of the managers in IT that was coordinating with HR as IT layoffs were being planned making an astonishing admission. At least, I was astonished at the time.
She told me that they were targeting males under 50 for layoffs to avoid potential regulatory intervention, as females and those over 50 were ‘protected’.
I was shocked, not because I was male and under 50, but because they were not basing the layoffs on employee performance.
They had completed a minimal level of what we might call risk assessment, determining where they could afford cuts without seriously affecting services.
But they missed two important HR-related risks.
The first was that the analysis of who should be released was…
