Employee Stockholm Syndrome
Multiple companies did layoffs last week, including Meta laying off 8,000 people. And my LinkedIn feed is full of posts from people thanking the companies.
Saying things like "It was such an honor and privilege to work for this company. Thank you for giving me this experience", etc., etc.
Now maybe they’re just playing the game and keeping up appearances, but why is this toxic positivity the expectation at all?
Why do we have to thank a company for giving us a paycheck in return for our time and energy—especially companies doing layoffs while reporting record profits.
Since the beginning of this LLM craze, CEOs have proudly proclaimed their model will “make white collar workers obsolete”, and used that as a selling point...
We should not be thanking these companies.
You can love your coworkers, manager, the work you do, but don't love your company. Because if you haven't realized by now, company loyalty is dead. It's a completely one-sided toxic arrangement, and the people thanking their company immediately after being laid off are exhibiting the employee version of Stockholm Syndrome.
You can be loyal to your company, but unless you work at one of the few companies in the world that cares about employees, your company will never be loyal to you. You will always be a number on a spreadsheet.
So remember that your job is just a job, and always be applying, always be stacking money, and always stay loyal first and foremost to yourself and your loved ones.
Your company is not a family, but if it is, it's the kind you leave your home town to get away from...
And just like you wouldn't thank your drunk uncle Fred for buying you a car, and then stealing it and crashing it into a tree... don't thank your company for the "privilege" of having worked for them, especially right after being laid off.