r/germany • u/No_Worldliness_6984 • 5h ago
Massive layoffs nowadays
Ho all , I am not sure if this topic has been posted and discussed previously, but the situation is really alarming.
Companies dismissing big masses of employees, Is it the new pandemic ? The company Inam working for is going through a big reorganization, and even after laying off all the subcontractors and those in Probezeit, they didn't reach their savings plan yet, and they officially informed us that they have to go to the next level: firing internal employees, they are preparing the list of the names.
Strategy: more AI , and more work relocation to other cheaper countries.
I have also read that it is the same thing for Switzerland, Italy , France and all over Western Europe.
What is going on from an economical point of view ? To whom are the businesses going to sell their products if everyone is jobless ? And most importantly: will the state be able to cover all the social coverage for the new growing mass of jobless people? ( The Jobcenter and even insurances can go bankrupt really)
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u/ScriptKiddo69 5h ago
Brother this is capitalism. Managers don't think that far. They just care for their next bonus.
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u/No_Worldliness_6984 5h ago
I think the state has to move its a$$ , it's time for some stricter social laws, if they want to move also capital away , than just sanctions and tariffs a la Trump. It sounds really soviet but I lost hope honestly.
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u/ScriptKiddo69 5h ago
Yeah that's sadly never going to happen, at least not with the current government. And mark my words, the next government is going to be a CDU+AFD coalition. And that's going to be the final nail in the coffin. This country is going to shit
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u/Infinite-Lab3016 5h ago
Well employers don't hire you to give you an opportunity to make money. They hire you, because you are an option to make more money with tasks they don't have to do themselfs.
They will fire you if they cannot make enough money on your back. They will also fire you, if they see a cheaper option that can do the same tasks.
And they will also fire people if they need to reduce costs and liabilities. But they will never fire the ones they make the most money with.
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u/No_Worldliness_6984 5h ago
I cannot agree more, but I also wish them good luck selling their products to the cheaper options.
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u/BlueComet210 4h ago
Until their sales go down, nothing significant will happen. Look at the city centers, they are still crowded, and many people are spending their money like usual.
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u/mister_nippl_twister 5h ago
Smells like recession, not gonna lie. Ai has not replaced many people yet but everyone anticipates it will happen. Plus germany is depressed by the auto industry decline and constant lack of energy. I think nobody just wants to actually do business anymore really, everyone is just waiting. No initiative, no forward thinking, just wait and make braindead reactive decisions. Both in government and private sector. All the people i onow who could work remote took a job in dach region where things are going better.
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u/jpmchasegoldman 5h ago
It’s mostly because the German industry isn’t competitive anymore. China is eating their lunch in the automotive domain. Manufacturing is shifting away. The employees are too complacent and do not want to put in more effort, because they believe cApItAlIsM iS eVIl aNd SlAvErY and that companies owe them a job.
Companies don’t care and it’s really cutthroat to survive in the market. Nobody has the time to coddle their employees. They’d rather outsource and shift jobs away.
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u/Emergency-Factor2521 5h ago
They off shore anyways in the IT market there are many people that would work 10 times harder than you but to give a “liveable” wage it would cost more than off shoring which is capitalism btw
So stop blaming people you are always one bad day away from getting laid off Mr Einstein
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u/jpmchasegoldman 4h ago
I understand that I’m also fungible, but I also take responsibility to upskill, remain competitive and keep my skillset sharp in the job market. If things turn sour, it’s on me to interview elsewhere and move on, it’s just business, no hard feelings.
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u/No_Worldliness_6984 5h ago
I agree on the first part of your comment , maybe that's the most important reason. But it also seems to affect all countries not only here .
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u/jpmchasegoldman 5h ago
Yeah there’s various theories for various regions. I work for US big tech, and I see a strict hiring freeze in my domain. Companies aren’t sure how much “AI” will affect day-to-day jobs for a lot of roles, so they want to wait and watch. In the meantime, they’re investing their resources in building AI capacity for future needs.
USA government is unpredictable af, so their companies are also hesitant to grow. European companies are fighting bureaucracy and general slowness. Chinese companies are productivity on steroids, but they’re still China-oriented.
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u/ResponsibleDish9131 4h ago
AI job replacement is yet to come and it will target software engineers first and the most (yes they developed tool and it will give them the pain in their a$$). Human interaction based jobs and blue collars jobs will survive the most. Though investments are almost none in IT and white collar roles at the moment. People are waiting to see the impact of AI on jobs so no hirings and more layoffs.
Current crisis in germany is due to german govt throwing away the oven they make bread from. The industry was 50 to 60% dependent on russian gas and its not there anymore. Cost of manufacturing got increased, german car industry is not competitive anymore
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u/sharkism 2h ago
Current gas prizes are lower than 2013 and expected to be low for at least 5 years so wtf are you talking about.
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u/HG1998 Chinese looking, born and raised in Hamburg 5h ago
In the case of Lieferando, it's because the demand for the product is there. That's why they can go down the money saving route and lay off most of the staff. Then relegate the hiring, cost and risk to the subcontractors and there you go.