The Economist has a very interesting interview with Standford Uni professor, Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of a new book 'Dying for a Paycheck: How modern management harms employee health, and company performance—and what we can do about it'.
The article includes a book excerpt which has a timely reminder - given what we're seeing in the telco and banking sector (and, I suspect given today's merger news between Nine and Fairfax, in the media sector) - that mass layoffs typically reflect company values rather than economics, using examples from Southwest Airlines, Toyota, Whole Foods Market and SAS.
"The idea that all companies, particularly those operating in cyclical industries, must resort to layoffs as a routine part of how they do business is simply not true."
https://lnkd.in/dqGDgJE