The Pragmatic Engineer

Share this post
Preparing for Layoffs in Tech
newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com

Preparing for Layoffs in Tech

What to know about layoffs as a tool of last resort, and how to execute them humanely if there’s no other choice.

Gergely Orosz
May 31
19
5
Share this post
Preparing for Layoffs in Tech
newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com

Q: We will need to execute layoffs to reduce our burn rate. I’d love advice on how to do this with as much humanity as possible.

This is a question from a startup CTO at a company struggling to raise the next round of funding. Sadly, layoffs are speeding up at tech companies and in the coming months we will likely see more layoffs across the sector.

In this issue we go through this difficult topic from a variety of angles. We cover:

  1. The impact of layoffs

  2. Do layoffs help the business?

  3. Ways to reduce spend before doing layoffs

  4. Preparing for a layoff

  5. Executing it

  6. After the layoff

  7. Case study: layoffs at Deliveroo in 2020

  8. Poorly executed layoffs

Subscribers have access to the document 🔒 Preparing for Layoffs: a Checklist as well, linked at the end of the article.

Let’s start by taking a step back:

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2022 Gergely Orosz
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
Substack is the home for great writing