Career expert exposes why Christmas layoffs are more common than people think

Job layoffs can be a scary and stressful experience for employees. This is especially the case with layoffs during festive seasons such as Christmas. Esther–who goes by @esthernowahala on TikTok–shared a video about how companies seemed to fire their employees just before they left for the holidays, effectively ruining it for them. Farah Sharghi, a career coach (@farahsharghi) stitched this video and provided a detailed explanation of why this happened with most employers. The video has gained over 180k views and 14k likes on the platform.

She begins the video by saying, "The CEOs are greedy and they wanna get their own bonus payout." Sharghi explains how CEOs fired people so they could save money from the salaries that they were previously getting. Furthermore, the severance checks that most employees got would be utilized by companies as a "tax write-up" for that year. It basically meant that they would earn quite a bit of money.

Sharghi explained how CEOs did not get paid like normal employees. She said, "Yes, they get a salary, but they also get a ridiculous cash bonus and they get stock in the company." Therefore, if the company performed well, stock prices would go up. This applies to companies that are publicly traded or privately held. CEOs would tactfully fire employees and artificially "inflate" the value of the company.

The following year, they could brag about how well the company performed and how they made a lot of money. She explained the reality of the situation, saying, "They just, you know, laid people off to make it look like they actually made more money than they did." These events would result in the CEO being rewarded with a "fat cash bonus." In addition to that, they would also get more high-value shares within the company that continue to become more valuable. She concludes the video by asking people to check out her podcast @corporatepizzapod, where she covered the same topic.

People on the platform found Sharghi's analysis quite interesting and added their observations in the comment section. @dn3626627 pointed out, "They're also making the book look better quarterly reporting. They get to gloat to stakeholders about reduced operating costs." @snorlax_and_snacks highlighted, "I understand that layoffs are sometimes needed, but the way stocks go up after really shows our value." @jakeestes_shoots commented, "This literally just happened. Seven people were laid off last week. Makes so much sense now."

A few months back, Mike Peditoo (@realisticrecruiting) made a video sharing how he was laid off from his job right after getting a big raise. He said, "I got laid off two months after getting a significant raise. A raise that came with the wording, 'We hope this will convince you to be here for the long haul.'" The man shared that he was asked to leave the company just two months later. He had two important pieces of advice for people getting laid off.

He said, "One, your layoff has very little to do with you. And two, the things that people say about you at work about how you're doing mean nothing. But there is no promise. You are who you need to look out for - you, your family, your inner circle. The decisions about the jobs you take and the moves you make in your career need to be your top priority." With so many layoffs happening today, it's vital to keep his advice in mind.