2025 marks 15 years since I was laid off from a job I had worked at the longest. I was there for 9 years.
When I started there, I was really productive. My skills were pretty rudimentary, but I worked hard, and I got the stuff done I needed to do.
As time went on, however, I increased my skillset. I learned new techniques and acquired more tools that allowed me to produce the same amount but in less time.
The first time I adopted new tools, I managed to turn a task that would take all day into a task that would take only a few minutes. Every new tool or technique I applied would reduce my output time even more.
I thought it was a great thing. My boss did not.
When they saw that I had more free time, they thought I was being lazy, despite that I was still producing the same as before. In fact, I had even increased output in some ways, as what I was producing increased its feature set.
Ultimately, because they thought I had too much free time, they began assigning me tasks that were unrelated to what I was doing and that I had no interest in doing. Honestly, it made me like my job less.
Eventually, when budget cuts came, I was laid off. I had worked myself out of a job.
I learned an important lesson that day. Bosses do not actually care about what you produce. In their mind, they are paying for your time, not your output. And if you are not spending your time doing what they think you should be doing, then you risk losing your job.
You know, I hear people saying things like unions stifle innovation and efficiency. But frankly, after this experience, I am starting to think it might be bosses that hinder technological progress.
5 replies on “I got laid off for being too efficient”
As a fairly new employee in the framing department of a factory, my boss asked me to build a new design that had just come from the design office. I sat down with the drawings, made a plan, gathered the lumber, made the cuts, and built the frame. When I was finished, I asked why he got the new guy to do it. He said, “You’re the laziest person that I’ve ever seen and I knew that you’d find the most efficient way to do the build.”
Thankfully, I had several good bosses over the years who understood me and I spent years working my own way, including what hours I chose. I had a few jobs that were “as long as you’re on time and don’t leave early, I don’t care how much you produce”. They never lasted.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Jim.
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