I have been the shot caller many times over the decades........... Levi has it correct.

Marketing goons are usually the first to go
they tend to not mingle with the rest, shifty buggers really..

depending in the bizniz, techwriters also quick to go.
A lot of that is cost and no direct correlation with revenu.

Support functions, well depends on the biz.. but it's usually easy to cull those and let the others work harder
or trade some quality of support for short term gain.

Sales, well how good were you at selling??
Sales is not something you kick out if you need to increase revenu..
But you sure want to have the productive sales people..

Other then that.. businesses have various ways
some will just cull the last ones to join
and cheese grate across all departments

Some will cull the 10% least performers..

some will write off the 10% oldest ones

many different methods exist..

I'm a devops engineer for a large retail company that has a significant online presence.. Our retail stores are shut down until mid-April, so the eCommerce side of the house is the only revenue right now. They laid off a few contract employees - one from my time. The store employees are actually still getting pay and benefits during the closure.

You wouldn't call jack schit without folks like me in this day & age ;).

Right now, as my wife's boss freaks out ... is no longer "the boss", Covid 19 is the boss now.

30 years for me.

I've done awesome considering the "industry standard"

Managed to ride the swirl till the final flush twice which is actually the worst ride you can take because when you are shutting the doors any chance for a package went down the drain way before you did.

The closer you are to the incoming dollars the safer you are.

Overhead, loss-leaders, and non-revenue generating roles are the first to go. Productive and quota-meeting salespeople? Safe.

I got a solid decade out of the industry and would go back tomorrow if I could.

If I had any questions about my jobs security, I would be looking right now. You don't have anything to lose by doing that. All you will do is add options. If you wait 3 months and get canned, by then the job market will have dried up around here. Currently there are several companies frantically hiring because they have a covid product right now or will have it very soon. Those jobs will be filled in 3 months when thousands of sales people will be looking for a new job.

That's my two cents. Always take control of the situation. You want to be the one that calls the shots.

G

The time's I've been part of it, it was always: 1) anyone on any sort of disciplinary action, no matter how minor, 2) previous performance evaluations, and 3) seniority.

I came out of r&d (IBM) then "did time" with two mega-banks...then a major corp being dismantled before calling it "quits" back in '08.

Literally tens of thousands of layoffs along the way...it sucked even though I knew I personally didn't have to sweat it.

It sucks, really sucks, but invariably it works out for most...usually for the better :)

Be ready for it....jmho.

I know in every business I have been involved in, managers decide. This being said, if an employee has pissed off a senior manager, they will also be added to the list.

I know for me, I take 2 things into consideration.

1. The person’s performance and ability to work with the team.
2. How much of my time they take to manage. I have 2 individuals that take up 40% of my time I can devote to running the engineering team. Both of these guys are on my ‘list’ despite their relatively good work.

This. The few times I've worked for someone else, people who were good at generating income always kept their jobs. Costs too much and takes too long to find another when times get good again. I sometimes wondered by person X didn't get axed even in good times since they were clearly not contributing, but that's another topic.

I have 2 technicians now with work booked 6 months out. My job is to make sure there's a steady stream between now and then to keep going strong but I would certainly take a pay cut to keep them both if things went south but I could see things picking up again. Which they will. We've gotten a lot of new business recently with people staying at home taking their cars apart but that could change as CV spreads and deepens.

If you are in sales and have been and are meeting your numbers, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

I've had senior mgmt do an over-ride during lay-offs once. One of my team had slipped a 2-page letter under my boss's boss's door, ranting because she had called out sick the day we had a pizza party, and my boss and I refused to buy her a pizza of her own when she got back. She got a free pizza, with a spot on my boss's ****-list included.

/\/\ what is astounding is that idiots like that EVER make it past a minimum wage job. /\/\