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In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Mass Layoffs.
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. 最近不管是马斯克还是小扎, 他们的这种大规模的裁员行为, 都让相关行业的小伙伴心惊肉跳.
Everyone's asking who's the next? And you keep seeing this expression, mass layoffs popping up in the news. So in today's buzzword, let's talk about mass layoffs, 大规模裁员.
To understand mass layoffs, first of all, we need to understand layoff.
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severance package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.