Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc.

EARLIER THIS YEAR, Meta announced layoffs, saying that they were hoping to “move out low performers.” Microsoft recently did the same. While the tech sector and white-collar layoff waves of the last couple of years have been, at times, random and uncoordinated, this year companies are more open about their efforts to trim from the bottom.

The idea is straightforward and seems logical at first glance: improve company productivity by shuffling low performers out the door. But workplace experts are asking whether that practice actually makes sense in the real world.

“There’s only one problem with cracking down on low performers ― it doesn’t work,” wrote Business Insider chief correspondent Aki Ito, who recently dove into what the data says about productivity and management.

“Pretty much every study that has ever crunched the numbers has found the same thing,” she explained. “Contrary to what leaders like Zuckerberg and Musk believe, instilling fear in employees actually hurts a company’s profitability in the long run.”

So, why do bosses like it? Bloomberg Law writer Khorri Atkonson said that while the practice is often framed as necessary for reducing staffing expenses and streamlining operations, it’s also considered a less confrontational way to let someone go. But it comes with risks. Employers laying off workers could run into legal trouble, and basing mass terminations on performance oversimplifies the issues by shifting the responsibility for potentially poor workplace management onto the employee and concealing the true nature of the action.

“Creating internally hyper-competitive organizations can lead to disastrous outcomes,” wrote Michael Hafen on LinkedIn. Another observer added: “It seems this weeding out of low performers has the opposite effect on [an organization]; it makes the higher performers paranoid.”

Ito points out another interesting facet of this debate: that it’s curious to see tech companies pivot this way now after taking a soft touch to low performers during strong periods of growth. When Satya Nadella took over Microsoft, he took an approach to performance management of “model, coach, care,” Ito observed. And it worked. “Microsoft post-2013 is one of the great success stories of the past decade ― an ailing giant that actually managed to become relevant again.”

Have companies learned their lesson? Don’t hold your breath.

“We become smart for a while and then we become stupid,” reasoned Sandra Sucher, a Harvard Business School professor. “If you’ve been in business for a long time, which I have now, you get used to the fact that it goes in cycles like this.”

PSYCHOLOGY

Thief! The consequences of idea theft

There’s nothing more infuriating than sharing an idea, only to see someone else get credit for it. But these idea thieves may not even realize they’re doing it

JUST ABOUT EVERYONE in the workplace has seen someone steal their ideas at least once or twice, along with the credit. Back in 2015, a poll of 1,000 workers found that half had experienced it, and one in five admitted their own guilt. It is a widespread, and annoying, workplace phenomenon. But why?

Ivey Business School professor Zoe Kinias recently published a study with a research team in the journal Scientific Reports that “provides a compelling answer to why ― despite being viewed extremely negatively by others ― idea stealing is still common in organizations: people rarely notice it.”

The study found that when presented with a scenario in which someone has their idea stolen right in front of them in a meeting, study participants simply forgot who introduced the idea in the first place. “It appears individuals process the idea content and who said the idea separately,” the paper stated. “By focusing on the task of idea generation, individuals become inattentive to the source of these ideas.”

“Many people know the famous study where participants, engrossed in simple counting exercise, missed a person in a gorilla suit beating their chest,” explained Kinias. “We didn’t have gorillas, but our study showed something similar: in real-world settings, laser focusing on one task can make you miss both subtle and important details ― like who actually provided the best idea in a meeting.”

Idea theft can be something of a silent killer. “I hear stories all the time where someone comes up with an idea for, say, a pitch for a marketing campaign or a new product, and someone else takes it on and gets all the credit,” wrote Lillien Ellis, a professor at the Darden School of Business. “The originator is left frustrated, angry and violated, and therefore much less likely to share their thoughts in the future.”

She suggested that organizations need to take concerns about idea theft seriously. “It is not so much about walking around constantly acknowledging that ‘it was so-and-so’s idea,’ but rather to be very conscious and intentional about amplifying the creative ideas and creative contributions people bring to the table.”

The Kinias study agrees. “Considering the consequences of both idea-stealing and amplifying behaviours, it is apparent that in group settings it is important to explicitly give credit to the person whose idea is restated.”

Tell that to the thieves, though.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Making menopause work

The workplace can be rough for menopausal women. Employers are (slowly) starting to step up

IN 2023, MENOPAUSE Canada released a report that suggested that Canadian businesses were widely overlooking the impact menopause was having on their bottom lines. “It is estimated that the unmanaged symptoms of menopause costs the Canadian economy $3.5 billion per year,” they wrote, citing a Deloitte Canada estimate.

There was $237 million in lost productivity and a whopping $3.3 billion in lost income. “There is a powerful and largely untapped opportunity for employers in Canada to act to unleash the full potential of this sizeable workforce demographic by better supporting them through what is a universal experience ― menopause. Women aged 40-plus are a highly valuable resource employers can’t afford to lose.”

Globally, it seems like some companies are starting to take notice of the new attention on menopause. Last week, pharmacy chain CVS announced that it was the first American company to receive a Menopause Friendly Accreditation from advocacy group Midovia. “This is more than just an accreditation ― it’s a call to action for companies to prioritize the well-being of midlife employees,” said Midovia’s April Haberman.

What does that mean, though? Experts say that it really adds up to a lot of small changes, rather than big transformative ones. They suggest efforts such as flexible bathroom breaks, improving ventilation and using uniforms made with breathable fabrics can make it easier for menopausal employees to get through the workday. In Europe, there are guidelines that suggest allowing middle-aged women extra days of sick leave and allowing customer-facing employees extra break time.

Those small measures can be high-impact. A 2023 study by University of Aberdeen professor Dr. Chithramali Hasanthika Rodrigo found that though these kinds of structured accommodations are still rare, where they are being instituted they correlate with both “improved menopausal symptoms and work outcomes,” and that just creating the policies made people at a workplace more relaxed.

“I wouldn’t say it’s happening at every workplace,” she said. “But I see a lot of enthusiasm.”

WORKFORCE

Here to stay?

Despite signs of market easing, hiring challenges persist as many Canadian employers still struggle to find skilled talent

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