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As the era of low interest rates came to a halt over the past two years, hundreds of tech companies slashed jobs. Alphabet, Google's parent company, cut 12,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global workforce, at the start of 2023. Meta laid off more than 10,000 employees, or roughly 13% of its staff. So did other household names, including Microsoft, Amazon and Disney. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times More than 260,000 tech employees were laid off in 2023, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks job cuts across the tech industry. Google just announced more cuts this month. Some executives were squeamish about using the term "laid off," so many cloaked such discussions in opaque language. "The term 'rightsizing' sounds more neutral," said Roger Lee, creator of Layoffs.fyi, adding that the phrase is also used "to convey the fact that these companies did a lot of hiring the past couple years, and now realize, given the current economic reality, it makes sense for the business to go back to a smaller size." Some layoffs were announced in the strange, isolating environment of remote work settings -- with workers shutting down their laptops, in their living rooms, knowing they might never speak to their teammates again. When Wayfair, the furniture retailer, announced last January that it was laying off 1,750 employees, or 10% of its workforce, the company said it was part of a "rightsizing" plan. That same month, when PayPal eliminated 2,000 full-time roles, or 7% of its overall staff, the company also discussed "rightsizing our cost structure." But experts caution that avoiding the phrase "job cuts" doesn't soften the blow for employees. "This language can dehumanize the process," Lee said, "and perhaps have the unintended effect of making the employee feel that the company doesn't fully realize the real impact the decision has." Sandra Sucher, a Harvard University professor of management who has studied layoffs, said using euphemisms during a layoff process could reflect the psychological phenomenon of "moral disengagement," in which business leaders rely on squishy language to distance themselves from the ethics of their decisions. But for workers, the term "rightsizing" means one thing: They've been laid off.

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13.01.24 11:18

by news.yahoo.com

Admirers of nautical icon Anna hope to prevent her final bow

Jan. 13 -- CAPE VINCENT -- The Anna, a nautical icon beloved by its legion of fans, is on rocky ground after the owner of the 30-foot Block Island trawler expressed some interest in selling the boat, or at least parts of her. In early December, Ronald J. Trottier, owner of Anchor Marina, 583 E. Broadway St., where Anna has been "on the hard" for about two decades, tasked Marcie Travers-Barth with selling Anna. Tavers-Barth owns The Coal Docks Restaurant & Bar, across the street from the marina. The restaurant building itself is owned by Trottier, who is not involved in the establishment's business or management. "The owner has asked that I put it up for sale and handle all offers," Travers-Barth posted on Facebook on Dec. 10, noting that the transaction would not result in any money for her. "Buyer(s) must remove it at their own cost. Let's get her sold and keep her part of the Cape Vincent community." That post set off alarms on the "The Anna" Facebook group page, which says the boat "has become an 'unofficial' beloved icon of the Cape Vincent community." Group members sought ways to save her. Posted ideas ranged from creating a GoFundMe account, setting up a nonprofit, gauging interest from the Mystic Seaport in Stonington, Connecticut, to placement of Anna on the National Register of Historic Places. On Jan. 3, in a "Letters From the People" submission to the Watertown Daily Times, Cape Vincent resident Victoria Sperry wrote that Anna is a vital source of tourism with a potential of doing much more. "There are a couple of places in the village where Anna could be displayed (with the cooperation of local authorities) if enough people come together and work to make this happen," Sperry wrote. "It's a romantic thing on my part, Sperry said on Tuesday. "Anna is beautiful. And so many old boats fade into obscurity. But she really is an attraction. People come here to paint and draw her. It's an incentive for people to come to the cape." Cape Vincent Mayor Jerry D. Golden said the village would have no means to undertake a restoration project involving Anna and finds the arguments to save her don't hold much water. "It's definitely gotten some attention. It's cool looking. I have a picture of it, as do so many other people. There are people out there who think something different, but to me, there's just no value in trying to restore that or have it on display." He said the ship has been a topic at village meetings, and at one, a question was asked. "Somebody mentioned, 'If some private investor bought it, restored it and made it pristine and gave it to the village -- would they take it?' I'm like, that's a lot of hypotheticals there, but I said you could always present something to the village if that were the case, and we could make a decision at that time." He added, "If somebody said, 'Hey, you could buy the Anna for $20,000 if the village put up the money,' I would say we wouldn't be interested." A restored Anna would face another issue in the village. "Where would you put i...