Layoffs at startups: Early signs or warning signals

What was the first sign that your company might be doing layoffs? Was it a random meeting addressed by CEO or some other shit?

If we look at layoff trends in India, then late stage IPO headed startups are doing it to boost profitability, or mid to early stage ones where they're trying to fit into a viable biz model. some mid sized MNCs also did layoffs where they have seen hit to their books.. all in all, crux was similar - to boost efficiency and eliminate redundancy. Then comes the companies with their support teams in india or US/EU banks and their ops outsourced in India.. i mean if you got friends in these firms you would understand how chillax they're about this. Take the example of AmEx...there's so much slack in the company, got few friends there and all of them don't work more 4 hours a day and that too most of the work some excel and next to shit level of python/sql while their salary in almost 90-95% of avg market (similar to what top paying startups).. Along with that teams are operating at 150% of strength so wlb is heaven there. story is similar with folks in similar US based support ops in india (citi, jp morgan, mastercard, some service based orgs etc) but look the irony of overall market.. you should be efficient and scared about your job as long you're into startups and Indian firms but once you make it captive or offshore centres of these US based firms.. you're life is chill, relax, no bad wlb, practically no layoffs. so you won't find these folks scrambling across GV or fishbowl or like that and getting stressed about seeing how other folks feel when one of the closer startups decided to restructure (i am frustrated because i once let go a offer of top US fintech company to go for a startup and now all i have is regrets given how the events across startup ecosystem are folding like layoffs across Fk, swiggy etc.. and not only layoffs but in general WLB and culture has taken a huge huge hit ::///// ) well it is what it is i guess then :,)

I don't know why everyone is making a big deal out of layoffs. Even the ones who laid off are not that concerned than the ones who comment. Laid off employees literally get free money upwards of 10 lakhs in many cases of senior developers who are laid off from top tech startups. Companies pay severance equal to 3-6 months salary of laid off employees. Some even offer other benefits as well. I personally know a couple of Devs who got around ~9-10L in severance pay. So, yeah if there are layoffs happening in funded tech startups or leading tech companies, considering their pay range, laid off employees get handsome severance pay including employee benefits

I am seeing lots of startups are firing these days even previous year it was happening. Would like to know the mindset of employees who got saved. Like to know what goes inside your head. How do you deal with this situation as it can happen with who got saved somehow, etc etc

Employees who are top performers are laid off. Employees who are in a firm for a long time are laid off. Employees who are freshers are laid off. Employees from IIMs/IITs are laid off. Employees who work just to get the job done are laid off. Seniors are laid off. Juniors are laid off Hard working employees who get good ratings and give extra hours are laid off. Bad peforming ones are obviously laid off. Is there anyone who is safe. It's just at the mercy of few decision makers at the top and no matter what you do you will never be safe. Now I understand why parents say that government job is better.

so with recent layoff season what are some things you would recommend anyone to look for in a company to stay safe ? feel free to add any hypothesis as well if you got any .

Hey, I've been working as a Frontend Developer at a startup in Hyderabad for the past 2.3 years and I've also worked on backend projects unfortunately, over the past year management hasn't been able to secure new projects on Monday my 4 colleagues had 1 on 1 discussions with HR and were given a month to find new jobs. If they can't they will be terminated in 2nd month I'm currently on a project but with less amount of work—should I be worried? It seems like they plan to terminate 4-5 employees every month.

I completed education from tier 1 colleges (MBA and Engineering both from coveted IIM and IIT). After MBA, I joined Wall Street bank and life was really good. Was enjoying the perks of a MNC although the work was also excruciating but was an overall good experience. Left it for a startup (fast growth kida in me led this decision). Worked in the startup across multiple roles, learned a lot of new things. Tried staying away from office politics and earned a good name in the circle. But growth (read pay) was not that enticing and was not growing hence decided to leave. Was naive enough to quote this reason to business head and HR as well. Obviously it didn't go well with anyone. Joined startup2, changed cities and joined it. The role was similar, although my manager was an epitome of a toxic manager. Was doing good but he always was able to find some or the other mistake in my work. If he would not find any mistake then he would suggest some tangential hypothesis and then reprimand me for not thinking about it. Was so toxic that I didn't take leave when my wife was hospitalized and giving birth to our child. Tried doing everything possible but couldn't save the job and got laid off in the 1st lay off wave. Was shattered. Confidence was at rock bottom. Tried searching for roles. Luckily I got into startup3 who had remote work at that time. Although I joined the marketing team (which was not at all related to my previous work) thus creating a mess of my profile. Worked hard but in a "restructuring" exercise got laid off again. Within a year 2 lay offs with random work and no concrete direction in work. Now searching for roles but not able to find anything suitable as I was in non-core roles and in this difficult time everyone is looking for cheap resources with 1-3 yoe and not looking for 7+ yoe with generalist profile. Contemplating starting from zero in Marketing or learning coding/Data science so that can start my career again with right basics.