Why do so many execs rely on cutting jobs indiscriminately? They don't know who the problem workers are.
I've literally been in a meeting where 1 team that was twice as productive as another was cut because that wasn't enough to make up for the fixed cost differential (rent, benefits, regulatory costs etc).
In software development I don't believe it. This smells like wishful thinking from management for which non-fungible employees are a problem. I'd like to see the evidence you're talking about.
In my experience at these companies, there is sufficient bureaucracy that high performers hit bottlenecks due to the org structure, reducing everyone down to the lowest common denominator anyway. So even an otherwise talented dev can be replaced by a less talented one.
They're so large that essentially nothing about your personal output has any real effect on your individual productivity. It's equal parts politicking, luck, and self-promotion that garners you kudos, not actually getting anything done.
In a dysfunctional organization, like I daresay yahoo is at this point, you don't lose anything by firing people who are unable to contribute due to organizational problems.
As an example, when I worked at AT&T, individual and project success was decided essentially based on the whim of management.
I don't think we went 3 months with the same remit, organization, management structure or goals.
In that kind of situation, much like I perceive Yahoo to be, there's really no point in attempting to achieve productive work since the targets change before you can actually do anything. It's pathologically better to focus on shifting blame and self-aggrandizement, so that when things inevitably fail you can dump it on a scapegoat. There's a reason I don't work there any more.
Yeah, all those software engineers corporate America outsourced in the 2000s turned out to be real fungible, right?
There is /a lot/ of debt at Yahoo, I think 10% doesn't even begin to cut through the majority of the fat. Unfortunately, most of issues stem from middle management that seem to avoid the layoff cycles.