THE BROKEN MICROSOFT PACT: LAYOFFS AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

There are stories of people who have been with Microsoft for 20 years, who grew up with the company, and who never had to worry about sudden changes. While the performance management system had its quirks, there was an understanding that if you did solid work, you'd have a place. Workers at Microsoft received below-market-rate pay in exchange for stability, a reasonable work-life balance, and the promise of no layoffs - this is no longer the case. This shift was almost expected: Microsoft's performance management challenges made layoffs a more attractive option than addressing individual performance issues systematically.