What unexpected thing do both President Donald Trump and Google have in common? They both offered “buyouts” to current employees for the same reasons—to cut headcount and strengthen company and agency mission alignments.
Trump’s “Fork” memo offered federal employees the chance to resign between January 28 and midnight, February 6 (with an extension added by court order until February 10), in exchange for being paid until September 30, without working. People who took the offer would also accrue benefits in addition to their paychecks—even if they took another job.
Google made an offer to 25,000 employees that they would receive severance in exchange for a voluntary resignation. While Google didn’t release details on these severance packages, they will have to be sufficiently generous to get people to take them.
Offering buyouts in lieu of layoffs is pretty standard in companies. I have run voluntary buyout programs before. That’s not a surprising thing. However, Trump and Google have the same reasoning.
To keep reading, click here: Why Trump and Google Are Paying Employees to Quit—And What It Means for Your Business
It was very interesting to read about the buyouts that President Trump and Google are offering to its employees. I have never heard of companies doing these things, but I can imagine that many companies do, and most employees take those offers. Like mentioned in your blog post, Google and the president are doing this to minimize headcount and ensure mission alignment. While these employees are being “laid off”, I think that other companies should jump on the opportunity and seek out these employees, if they align with their mission. I think it’s important for any business to ensure that all their employees are working towards the same goal because if they aren’t then they will never reach success. With that being said, I’m not exactly sure if buyouts are the best way to approach this situation. For example, President Trump is offering to pay all the employees who resign until September 30 without working. The government will be spending tons of money to pay people that aren’t’ even working for them, when they can utilize that money elsewhere. I know that it gives the employees the incentive to leave and search for a new job while still getting paid, but won’t this hurt the company in the long run?