“火星哥”马斯克收购“推特”以来，就频频喜提热搜；最近，更是因为“灭霸式裁员”Twitter合同员工引发了一轮更大的热议。

很多Twitter员工说，一觉醒来收到“盲盒式”邮件，或者干脆被“踢”出了公司群。

马斯克OS,“欸，你说惊不惊喜，意不意外？！”

无独有偶，一度估值高达1万亿美元的Meta，也宣布裁员1.1万人，占其员工总数的13%。

所以，今天的Buzzword 就来聊聊打工人瑟瑟发抖的Mass Layoffs-大规模裁员.

If you're currently working, especially if you're working in tech industry, this early winter does not bring a lot of confidence.

With tech giants like Twitter and Meta, firing employees on an unprecedented scale.

Everyone's asking who's the next?

And you keep seeing this expression, mass layoffs popping up in the news.

To understand mass layoffs, first of all, we need to understand layoff.

Lay off

A layoff is the temporary or permanent termination of employment by an employer for reasons unrelated to the employee's performance.

一般 layoff 翻译成“裁员”或者“下岗”。

You can say someone is laid off or you can use it as a noun and say a layoff.

根据具体情况, 它既可能是temporary, 暂时的; 也可能是permanent, 永久性的。

尽管在新闻里这回对于 Twitter和Meta裁员的新闻报道会用各种各样的词, 比如说firing, 比如说cuts, layoffs；

but there's actually a distinct difference between firing someone and laying off someone.

Usually an employee may be fired on the grounds of unsatisfactory performance or breach of duty.

一般我们说firing是说被炒了, 通常都是员工自己的问题, 比如说绩效达不到或者违反了公司的某些规定。

But when employees are laid off, that usually is not because they did anything wrong, but the companies aim to cut costs due to decline in demand for their products or services or during an economic downturn.

而layoff的情况通常不是个体员工自己的问题, 而是公司运营不善, 经费不足, 或者遇到了经济大环境的影响, 必须得精简人员削减成本。

That's why laid off employees are often entitled to a severance package.

因为不是员工自己的错, 导致 layoff, 所以基本上按照相关法律, 他们都有权获得遣散费, 也就是裁员赔偿, 平时我们说的n加几, n乘几的那个。

And they also qualify for unemployment insurance.

From the company's point of view, layoffs are generally called downsizing or even smart sizing.

很多公司会用 downsizing 甚至smart sizing这样的词来形容规模性裁员。

The reason is often because of an economic downturn or corporate restructuring, such as bankruptcy or buyout.

而它的原因除了经济大环境不景气, 还可能是各种 corporate restructuring 企业重组, 比如说破产重组或者是被收购。

But no matter what you call it, downsizing, layoffs, workforce reduction, this is going to be hard on employees or let go.

So apart from offering severance package, some companies also offer older employees, early retirement, or offer voluntary buyout options.

有的公司在裁员的时候, 除了会给遣散费, 还会对一些可能年纪比较大, 比较接近退休年龄的员工, 提供提前退休这样的一个选项；

又或者是给比较长期的员工一个自愿离职的选项。

其实听节目的你如果年龄比较大, 或者是问一下家里大概50岁以上的长辈, 他们应该都还记得中国90年代的下岗潮, 里面有一大堆的名词, 比如说什么内退, 买断, 基本上就有相似的意思。

In recent headlines, we've seen many major companies having mass layoffs.

After announcing plans for mass layoffs, Amazon began letting employees go starting November 16th.

And it has a plan to cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide.

比如说亚马逊已经开始了裁员的动作, 并且公布了要大概裁掉1万人的计划.

Meta 也就是原来的Facebook, they announced mass layoffs for 11,000 of its employees. These cuts will account for 13% of its workforce.

他们是裁掉了11,000人, 相当于总员工数的13%.

With Elon Musk and Twitter, that was the big news everyone's been talking about for the past 2 weeks.

So Twitter laid off 3,700 employees, nearly half of its global employees. And its mass layoff of nearly 50% of its workforce is the largest mass layoff of 2022 by a tech company.

这完全是一个近半数裁员的超级大手笔。

Like we said earlier, layoffs are to cut costs, an act to save the company, but there are many problems with layoffs, especially mass layoffs.

Although you seem to cut on labor cost, these actions can also hurt the workers who remain their communities and the broader economy, and even the employer.

And even for those workers who still got their jobs, they might experience increasing level of anxiety and insecurity. And this can lower productivity and morale.

而在大规模裁员中, 暂时幸存的这些员工也会有更强的焦虑和不安全感, 这必然会影响生产力和员工的士气。

Large layoffs can also inflict economic damage on the area where laid off workers live, lowering demand for other goods and services and lowering tax revenue.

而且这种大规模裁员还可能引起对于区域经济的影响, 比如导致购买力和政府税收降低.

Now of course those are bigger questions.

遇到大规模裁员，该怎么办？

For each of us as individuals, what should we do when we get laid off?

Well, of course it’s a blow to your confidence. It's easy to get emotional, but it's a time when you actually need a lot of logical thinking.

The first step after a layoff is to carefully review your contract as well as any severance package, your former employer may offer.

This may include provisions on severance payments, employee benefits and health care insurance.

如果不幸遭到裁员, 首先需要做的就是仔细的去阅读你的劳动合同以及你的遣散的赔偿方案.

Some employers may attach conditions to severance agreements, 因为有些公司可能会在你的severance agreements里面加上一些附加的条件, 如果你不注意, 可能就会有很多后续麻烦.

It may be a good idea to negotiate your severance agreement and have a lawyer review any paperwork before you sign.

如果可以签署文件之前, 最好是能咨询专业的律师, 这样保证自己的权益不受到侵害。

例句示范

Example 1：

-Mass layoffs are a difficult but common occurrence in the business world that leaves many employees wondering how they’ll be affected.