To be
laid off is to mean, "Lay off doing your work", or in other words, "Go away, cause we can't/won't pay you no more."
It used to be that
companies would have
layoffs with the
expectation that they would bring the
employees back to work when
work was available (ie,
car industry slows down,
automakers have forced layoffs, two weeks later they call everyone and get them back on the
line). Now that is less
prevelant in most industries. (and
employee loyalty, along with
pension plans and the like are out the
window as well)
All these companies who were
losing money (due to bad
business plan,
stupid mistakes,
bad product, wrong
timing, etc) were
financed by companies who held them
accountable, whether they were
stock investors,
private investor,
investment firms or whatever. These guys wanted
results, and the only results they are interested in after the initial kick off is
money.
If your company is
losing money like a stuck pig, and your
quarterly review is coming up, what's a good way to save 5, 10, 50, 100 or 500
thousand in one
month? That's right - you lay off people. Now, suddenly, your financial picture doesn't look so
shabby. Of course, you don't tell the investors you had layoffs, though you might mention that to save money your organization went through a
restructuring phase.
But without your employees you're worse off than you were before. You are
essentially killing the
golden goose to sell its gold, without realizing that you won't get any more
golden eggs.
This is a business practise that has fallen out of
favor, but it is still practised.
<sigh>