The layoff dubbed "FedExgate"
Issue 01 of the Laid Off Trend Report
I’m sending this issue from a cabin along the central coast of California. It’s quiet here. I Googled recent bear sightings in the area before driving up. There was a black bear in someone’s backyard a few months ago, but it was just taking a nap on a tree trunk.
I don’t usually write an intro note in the weekly articles, because this newsletter isn’t about me. I realized, though, that I like reading a line or two from the newsletter creators that I do follow, a little insight into their lives. Hate it? Tell me. I’ll recede back into the abyss.
Now let’s get to the juicy bits.
I surveyed 856 people who have been laid off. As I mentioned last week, I’m breaking out the Trend Report into five weekly installments plus some special issues. There’s a lot to unpack. This week is all about how companies handled layoffs, the reasons they gave workers, and whether people saw it coming.
First, some numbers:
44.1% worked at companies with 1,000 or more employees, 14% worked at companies with 100 to 249 employees, and 9.8% worked at companies with 20 to 49 employees
43.9% worked at their company for 1-3 years, 16.8% worked at their company for 3-5 years, 14.4% worked at their company for less than a year, 12.1% worked there for 5-10 years, 8.5% worked there for more than 10 years, 4.3% worked there for less than 6 months
49.6% were making $120,000 or more, 19.3% were making $90,000 to $119,000, 18.4% were making $60,000 to $89,000, and 9.1% were making $30,000 to $59,000
39.6% were laid off over Zoom, with 23% laid off using another video conferencing platform. 14.2% were laid off in an in-person meeting, 11% were laid off over email, 6% were laid off in a phone call, 2.1% were laid off in a town hall/all-hands, 1.1% were laid off on Slack, and two people were laid off over text message
4 — The number of times the phrase “sinking ship” was used
“We had zero editorial support, no room for growth, and all of our big ideas were summarily ignored. The company also changed its editorial vision, on average, every 3 months. It was a sinking ship from the get.”
— Finance writer at Morning Brew laid off in 2023
6 – the number of times “inhumane” was used
“They made a company-wide slack announcement & put meetings on everyones calendar. It was a 15 minute meeting at the beginning of my day & they wiped my computer right after. I didn't have time to say goodbye to anyone (after 4.5 years), I couldn't close anything out, or document what I worked on for my job search. It was completely devastating & it felt completely inhumane.”
— Senior Quality Specialist in the tech industry laid off in 2024
12 – the number of times someone mentioned outsourcing
23 – the number of times “capitalism” was used
“Google had well over 110 billion dollars in the bank at the time. They could absolutely afford to keep us on staff, and more. So no, I don't believe that they had to cut employees in order to stay afloat in the long run, but I do very much believe that a mass layoff was necessary as the only way to keep key investors happy. Capitalism is so fun!”
— News Program Manager at Google laid off in 2023
29 – the number of times “pivot” was used
130 – the number of times “budget cut” was used
188 – the number of times someone mentioned restructuring
542 – the number of people who said they saw it coming or had a gut feeling
“Oh for sure, when they hire Deloitte, you know there are going to be layoffs.”
— User Experience Researcher at the University of Southern California laid off pre-pandemic
“They actually had to do the layoffs a whole week earlier than planned because employees started getting FedEx labels showing up on the app or in their physical mailbox saying they were sending something to the company, and what could they possibly be sending, besides their computer? And why would they be sending their computer back? So the cat was kind of out of the bag at that point. People were calling it FedExGate.”
— Lead User Experience Researcher at UKG laid off in 2024
After reading through hundreds of responses, here are some standout trends:
If workers did get a heads up that layoffs were coming, it was usually through online rumor mills or leaks in the press.
Glassdoor, Fishbowl, Blind, and Reddit were all mentioned as online forums where people got wind that layoffs might be coming. Some people also mentioned reading about the speculated layoffs in the press before the company officially announced them.
I’ve interviewed workers from Meta, Benefits Data Trust, and Paramount who all saw their layoffs in the headlines.