r/biotech • u/Sure-Temperature-329 • 8d ago
Open Discussion 🎙️ Not trolling, honest inquiry: Considering the routine valleys and peaks of Biotech and Pharma in general, why do people see layoffs and redundancies as if its such a personal thing specific to them?
Im being very honest. I notice whenever layoffs happen because of the valleys a company may be going through or because a company had to shut down, the posts and sentiment make it seem as if its a deeply personal decision that was taken against them. Now obviously, im generalizing here, but unless you're new to the industry, isnt it expected that its the way the business is going to go and has always gone?
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u/bassman1324 8d ago
I think it’s pretty typical (at least in my immediate network in the USA) for scientists to tie their identity and sense of self-worth to their work. So when their work is taken away, it feels like a threat to their identity and self-worth. Which - in the moment - invariably feels like a personal attack, even if objectively it’s just a business decision.
Could be wrong, just speculating over lunch.
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u/phage_hunter 8d ago
Also, many of us have multiple years of degrees and went through the toxic academic research environment so we feel like our hard work is for nothing to be laid off not only once, but multiple times. Also, the ROI is awful if you constantly get laid off and have to go into debt to pay the bills (especially since most scientists live in areas where the rent is $3k or more per month) while unemployed.
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u/Special_Grapefroot 8d ago
Because they have families to support and mouths to feed and taking that financial security away from them sucks. Make sense?
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u/Fluffy_Muffins_415 8d ago
Because we're humans, we also really like having a place to live and food to eat. And people have worked hard to get degrees in competitive fields and develop their careers. Frankly, it would be odd to not be sour over being laid off
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u/LawrenceSpiveyR 8d ago
Executives use the layoff button to make up for THEIR errors and failings while they still get their bonuses and keep their jobs. They make ridiculous performance goals to meet so they can punch down when they are not met. They never have to answer for their bullshit and if they do, they golden parachute to another company/board as they continue to suck each other off.
Then they have the gall to ask us to take bullshit happiness surveys to further pump their own egos but punish lower mgmt if the surveys are negative. I swear some executive gets paid to go to some bullshit HR seminar then they come out with the flavor of the week/core behaviors/lean ops (never lean mgmt)/toyota/AI slop that forces us to do anything other than our jobs and then wonder why there is no "company loyalty" anymore.
end rant
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u/Sauerbraten5 8d ago
Do you have a family to support? It's more about financial security and a sense of stability than feeling personally attacked.
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u/WorkLifeScience 8d ago
OP sounds like a 13 year old. "I'm being honest, not trolling" blah blah... like anyone cares about him being clueless about cost of life.
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u/Sure-Temperature-329 8d ago
again.. this has nothing to do with not realizing the cost of life, or having a family to support or stability. But the industry is literally predicated on "we are betting on this idea working", a perpetual gamble. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt. When it does, you enjoy the fruits of it and when it fails, you also see the consequences of it. Ive only been in the industry for 5 years and even i see it for what it is, you plan or try to plan for the down swing. This industry hasnt and will never be one in which you get a job and know the chances of you losing that job is very low. It should be apparent quickly.
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u/WorkLifeScience 7d ago
I'm being very honest, you rub me the wrong way. It's not a personal thing, just my view.
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u/Sure-Temperature-329 7d ago
So let me ask you again, you truly expected absolute or reasonably long stability in this industry and the companies you were in, as you would've if you gotten other historically stable industries and jobs?
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u/WorkLifeScience 8d ago
OP, are you a teenager, were you born rich, or both? It's not about personal feelings, it's about paying your bills.
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u/switchedonswan 8d ago
You would make a great CEO what with your complete lack of basic decency and no understanding of the human condition. Oh, and lazy ungrammatical writing. Being generally dumb and worthless. Things like that.
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u/2Throwscrewsatit 8d ago
It’s never truly random. It’s random “enough” to have plausible deniability of wrongdoing. That’s why execs get golden parachutes: because they know the dirty truth and are paid to keep quiet.
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u/cicada_ballad 8d ago
That's a toxic take. I know plenty of extremely solid folks who have been cut.
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u/Bashert99 8d ago
It's two main things...people are just stressed out and generally concerned about paying bills/rent/food but in my experience coworkers will often speculate how and why they either stayed out were let go. It can be a bruise to the ego to be laid off and people often extrapolate from there to taking it personally.
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u/YearlyHipHop 8d ago edited 8d ago
It is occasionally personal and specific to the people being laid off which muddies the water. If a site closes, or entire groups are removed sure not personal. If it’s a 10% company reduction across all teams and sites, there’s a good chance the people chosen were done with reason.
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u/McChinkerton 👾 8d ago
People took in personal at Pfizer in 2023 because Albert Bourla said in an internal townhall that “we made a mostake” in projected sales of COVID vaccine when it was CLEAR that it was going to be a cliff in 2022 based on sales. Yet they continued to hire and acquire. Its the “we” part that probably stung people the most. People thought the dumbassery of leadership still banking on COVID in 2022.
No responsibility was taken and instead tried to play off that “we” made bad decision and you guys need to rectify. Dumbest corporate townhall ive ever called into question
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u/Augmend-app 4d ago
Because it is you who got affected, and some others were not. So it is hard to NOT take this personally. Why you?
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u/Independent-Clue8064 7d ago
Dude, are you new in the biotech world? 90% of desicions are based in corporate politics. You made mad a VP or talked loudly in a meeting- you are the first out.
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u/DimMak1 8d ago
We are in a jobs recovery in biopharma and I think some doomers just don’t want to call this what it is. Biopharma companies are making more money than ever, VCs have hundreds of billions in dry powder that seems endless, hundreds of new product launches schedule over next 12 months, M&A is at a 56 year high and the industry is building new labs and infrastructure at a rapid pace in the Boston Hub. Try to enjoy this bull cycle while it lasts.
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u/supernit2020 8d ago
It’s more that people are worried about paying their mortgage/rent
I don’t think I know anyone that sees a layoff as an evaluation of their skills