What is the motivation for the managers?
What makes you think they are good?
First look at your interpretation of “good” then compare it to the employers role expectations as documented. I bet the answer will stand out like a sore thumb. Folks will dismiss the issues as irrelevant to the end goal but they are relevant to the entire operations scheme. The industry in general is right-sizing itself. The days of that grumpy Engineer who no one really likes but definitely gets things done so they are untouchable are going away. This shift is hardest for legacy employees as they consider the minutia of corporate life a waste of time, etc. So they are going to reap the rewards of that fear of change.
Managers proving to higher up to get moving to next level
lol, they are likely late-2022 E5 hires who are sitting on a couple million of unvested stock (with refreshers). Most of them will be ushered out of Meta. Zuck is no cuck.
Good guy is not a job... Many ppl forget that, especially in last 5-6 years of hypergrowth (both technology and business). I saw ppl jumping ships and riding their resume. 0 output, just talks and hand waving in Harry Potter style. Org/group changes - according to a situation (budget) and goals. Ppl budget management happens on a very high level. It can have different solutions and forms, and its a non-stopping annual process in any healthy company. In hypergrowth money is not a question, but hiring has a huuuge lag - compensated by overhiring and redistributing force later. Higher level of expertise - bigger lag. First-line and middle mgmt (up to "org" level) have 0 input on this. They dont "manage" budget, they redistribute it "fairly" to smooth-out risks. So normally budget moves for that group of mgrs looks like: hc +1 or hc -1. In the form of an order, no discussion, no "tools". In that case mgr looks at goals and makes a call. The "hard" part is that less experienced engineers dont understand the landscape (goals, direction) and are surprised by a call. Example: team of 6. team slows down, moving product into production mode and gets into stabilization/maintenance mode. Senior eng (staff, whoever...) is at 3 years in a company , 2 at the project. The rest are 2 years or over 5. This senior eng is going... now, without a pain. Or 1 year later - cliff and "bored" and mgr will "die" - product is not growing, new hc is hard to get, knowldge transfer did not happen, etc, etc. Let go now. Destabilize, delay some deliverables, miss some deadlines, but point to a "stabilization and expected bugs". Go through pain, survive and live. Key solutions are there, key decisions are made, 80% delivered. Keep senior and let go "newbie", but deliver on time, etc. And 1 year later, without a budget for cliff compensation - lose that senior eng anyway, and die with 4 guys who are used to "ask senior". Senior engineers do not grow on trees. They are juniors who were mentored and taught by senior, and more importantly: they were provided with opportunity to make mistakes and learn
Another example would be: Smaller company, mgr actually manages ppl budget - 2 mils a year and a scope. Same product stage. Budget cut - 0.5mln. Keep 0.5mln senior and kick out 2x0.25mln engineer (least experienced)? Team of 4, instead of 6. And have troubles with "bored" senior one year later? Hiring is not replacement, hiring is growing talent. Kick out 0.5mln senior, but have team of 5. And couple of ambitious folks will push harder to prove they are worth calling themselves "senior"? Can be the other way too. Team is pivoting, new product: a lot of design, pocs, thinking, expertise is required. Newbies go... they can code and do, but can't think and create (yet)
Those above - ideal mgr in a vacuum. The exist only in books and training (case studies, eyc). In the reality: 1. Personal relationship 2. Team member life situation. Im a human, im not kicking out a guy with a newborn baby and a first house-mortgage. Old MFer with 4mils in stocks goes... (after a risk assrsment) 3. Team member influence and reputation 4. Upper mgr expectations 5. Team reaction ( manager != leader in many cases...) 6. Managers brain and heart 7. Etc, etc
Has to do with increase of depression due to Covid and people thinking their hard work isn’t worth the money anymore because everything is so expensive
Maybe they are burned out and performance dropped. When I burnt out after several years in Meta my productivity tanked and I was so stressed that people started noticing it... I felt shitty for not doing my best, but I just could not do better. It took me 2 months of complete non action, literally laying in bed all days before I started getting some of my energy back. Had to take a leave. Antidepressants, therapy, everything was there, but still burnt out and felt so guilty for it.
Sorry to hear. Hope things get better.
"Performance" isn't an objective measure. It's whatever the company decides at the time. If tenured and valued employees leave it's usually because of some misaligned incentive structures. Or the company wants to reduce SBC and older employees often have generous compensation packages.
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Because you don’t know their level, might be their performance is not meeting their level
Probably high performers are paid too much for their level.