One Stanford professor is pointing out that all of the tech layoffs could be due more to copycat behavior than any real need to cut costs.

Jeffrey Pfeffer (a Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business) has written an essay explaining what he thinks is behind the tech layoffs – and it’s not what the companies are claiming.

During the pandemic, he says, a number of tech companies started hiring – so everyone was soon hiring. He says that the reverse is true in business as well. Once layoffs start with some companies, others follow suit – even if it’s not logical for their situation. Pfeffer says, “a lot of this is just imitation. Companies don’t throw out their capital equipment the minute mark turns down. Hiring and firing like this is expensive.”

He says that this volatile knee-jerk imitative behavior could be avoided if the companies have a long-term idea of how many employees they need instead of hiring and firing every time the market fluctuates.

Pfeffer adds, “A lot of companies doing layoffs cite the economic downturn, but many of them aren’t going to run out of money if they avoid layoffs. This is a choice.”

By firing people, they’re creating a situation where people are spending less and putting less into the economy – thereby hastening the downturn they claim to be trying to avoid.

Pfeffer says that the layoffs these companies issue are done so with “very little consideration of the harm they cause,” adding that layoffs have “huge behavior and physical negative effect on people.”

He points out that just a year ago, many of these companies were touting their employees as their most important asset – but dumping them like yesterday’s trash today.

Pfeffer concludes, “These layoffs are a decision that reflects the company’s values, and these companies have basically given their employees the middle finger.”