Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations

4.16. Short-Term Profit Orientation

"They," the generic management, were perceived by some as fixated on short-term profits and willing to pay for them with workforce reductions:

• "You've got to understand the only indicator of this whole damn thing is the second-quarter profits. They don't know what the business is going to do; the only thing they can do is try to keep a status quo until they look at the second and third quarter profits." (manager)

• "I know all they want to do right now is turn a profit, and they'll get as many people as they need to do that. That's short term. They're not looking long term anymore." (field employee)

• "I say if we don't make a profit at the end of the first quarter, there's going to be more people that are going ...