‘What's the C-suite's play here?’: Company lets go of 40+ high-performing employees, then immediately posts 40+ better-paying jobs on a job board, leaving employees dumbfounded

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Aug 17, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Mass layoffs have become far too common, not just in the tech space but in every field overall. That's why when the employee who posted this next story falls victim to their own company laying off over 40 employees, they're not surprised—just confused. Why? Their company immediately posts the positions they terminated on a job board, just with higher salaries.

If you've ever experienced a layoff, it's not enjoyable (obviously). An ungodly number of questions repeat themselves in your head, most of which have to do with what you could've done better, what you could've said to save yourself, and why you spent so much money on random things when you should've been building your savings account. This employee, however, is trying to figure out their upper management's gameplay when they lay off over 40 employees, then repost those job openings with a higher pay rate. Seems a bit counterintuitive, no?

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    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • For-profit companies do everything they can to maximize profit; that's just the name of the game. Commenters on this story try to analyze the company's main objective, utilizing the in-depth timeline provided by the poster.

    What do you make of this situation? Sound off in the comments below.

  • "My company l*id off 40ish high-performers and immediately posted 40ish new, better-paying jobs. Now we all have to compete for them. What's the C-suite's play here?"

    I'm trying to read between the lines of a bizarre "restructuring" at my company and could really use some outside perspective from managers, HR folks, or anyone who has seen this before. I'm completely baffled by the logic.
    via RiccoT
  • The Timeline: A few years ago, A new executive is hired to oversee our organization.
    via RiccoT
  • A few months ago The executive announces a "restructuring" that will involve "shrinkage and growth." We all knew this meant layoffs were coming.
    via RiccoT
  • A few weeks ago the layoff is announced. Dozens of people are impacted, with a notice period. Simultaneously, dozens of new job postings go live, many with brand-new titles.
    via RiccoT
  • The Current Situation: A large portion of my immediate team and teams we work with were affected. These are long standing, high performing people. My own job description was drastically changed into something I have zero interest in, but my skills are a perfect match for several of the new roles.
    via RiccoT
  • We are all being "encouraged" to apply for the new positions. Here's the kicker: the jobs were opened to internal and external candidates at the same time. The
    via RiccoT
  • company even held a meeting to show us the volume of applications they've received- many roles have hundreds of applicants, some have nearly 1,000.
    via RiccoT
  • My Questions/Where I'm Lost: I'm struggling to understand the business rationale. If this was just about downsizing or cost-cutting, it would make sense. But it's not:
    via RiccoT
  • 1. Why get rid of top talent? Leadership consistently praised our group for delivering some of the most innovative and impactful projects the company has seen in years. Why would you dismantle that?
    via RiccoT
  • 2. Why not transition people internally? If you have talented people and new needs, why not just create the new roles and let existing staff preference into them? Why force your proven, high-performing employees to compete against a flood of external candidates?
    via RiccoT
  • 3. How is this cost-effective? When you factor in 90-day notice periods, severance packages, the massive cost of interviewing thousands of candidates, and the catastrophic loss of productivity from everyone being demoralized and distracted... this seems wildly expensive. The new jobs are even higher-paying!
    via RiccoT
  • 4. What's with the mind games? Flaunting the huge number of external applications feels like a deliberate tactic to create panic and pressure. It's incredibly insulting, and some of my laid-off colleagues are so disgusted they're just taking the severance and leaving without even trying.
    via RiccoT
  • So, r/careerguidance, what am I missing? What is the C-suite thinking? • Is this a roundabout way to legally fire specific people they couldn't otherwise?
    via RiccoT
  • . • Is this an attempt to "level- up" the talent pool by forcing everyone to re- justify their employment? • Is this just a colossal failure of leadership and change management?
    via RiccoT
  • I need to apply for these new roles if I want to have any job satisfaction, but it's hard to feel motivated when you feel like a in a game you don't understand. Any insights would be hugely appreciated. Thanks.
    via RiccoT
  • JOB APPLICATION on typewriter
    via Markus Winkler for Unsplash
  • TL;DR: My company I id off ~45 people from a team they called "highly innovative and impactful." Simultaneously, they posted ~42 new, higher-paying jobs and are making the l id-off employees, the "safe" employees (like me),
    via RiccoT
  • and thousands of external candidates compete for them in a "Hunger Games" style process. This seems incredibly expensive and demoralizing. What strategic advantage could the company possibly gain from this?
    via RiccoT
  • IcebergSlimFast I'd say you nailed it in your final bullet: a colossal failure of leadership and change management.
    via IcebergSlimFast
  • eazolan Usually, there is no amazing secret plan. Just a bunch of idiots banging rocks together.
    via eazolan
  • Wet_Techie I would assume they have already lined up candidates for at least half of the "open" positions. The new VP is bringing his/her own people in, and expecting everyone there to train them and watch lesser performers earn more money.
    via Wet_Techie
  • RiccoT This is kind of how I am thinking too...unfortunately.
    via RiccoT
  • TheShortlist Team What you're describing sounds like a few possible scenarios: 1. Leadership wants to reset salary bands/expectations by making everyone re- compete. 2. They're trying to avoid discrimination claims by making the process 'fair' (even if it's absurd). 3. Someone genuinely believes external competition will magically improve the talent pool.
    via TheShortlistTeam
  • The real tragedy is how this destroys trust and wastes incredible institutional knowledge. Your colleagues who are taking severance rather than competing are making a rational choice. Why work for leadership that treats proven performers this way?
    via TheShortlistTeam
  • RiccoT Those of us left are in this strange space now. I've had periods of time where my job felt strange and chaotic...this surpases all of those combined.
    via RiccoT
  • illiquida at Salary rest and the 4th question you asked RE: Mind games, my last company did the same thing, and they would go on department conference calls saying stuff like "we had sooo many people apply to our roles tons of interest" - meanwhile? People were getting shoved out the back door. Insanely toxic. Get out of there while you still can trust me
    via illiquida***at

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