To be more specific, lay off difficulties are at the complex of a ton of corporate management failures. These include poor oversight and supervision, legal paranoia, and low skin in the game.

I've been at startups where someone who isn't cutting it will be laid off in a week.

1. The manager decides the employee should go.

2. The manager reaches out to the Human Resources department. They explain what the manager has to do to ensure that the employee can be fired without causing the company to get sued.

3. The manager meets with the employee and puts them on a performance improvement plan. Typically, the employee is given goals they must meet to keep their job. The manager documents the employee's performance. The documentation's goal is to ensure that the company can avoid a lawsuit if the employee is fired.

4. PIPs last about 3 months.

5. If the employee meets the goals, the employee is taken off of the PIP and stays on the team.

6. If the employee did not meet the goals, the employee is fired.

Note it is a lot of work and this has been going on for decades. There are a few problems with this process:

A. Teams are stuck with poor performers because managers cannot quickly get rid of them.

B. A lot of time, the employee on the PIP has no chance. The manager wants him gone and unless the employee does an amazing job, that employee will be fired no matter what.

You have not addressed the commenter’s assertion that >= 14% of managers do nothing. You may have even bolstered their point by saying “almost all of [the managers you have worked with] work hard.” I think it’s fair to consider 84% to be reasonably in the bounds of “almost all.”

So is it bullshit?