Sure, being in a high position with a company has its perks, but one major downfall, at least for most people, is having to fire workers.

A company vice president wrote the story below and talked about what happened when they were given the task of laying employees off.

Take a look at what they had to say.

I laid people off, it was terrible.

“Before I get eviscerated, it was not my choice, though I could have just said no. I’ve been reeling all weekend about it.

My boss, the CEO, decided in a rather hasty way that we needed to layoff our entire software team. I’ve been in role in a different department for a few months.

I’ve been asked my opinion on different topics throughout the business so I know what’s going on for the most part everywhere.

I am a sitting VP in the company.

Oh, jeez…

I get a phone call Friday late morning from my CEO saying they decided to let go of the team, but some stuff has come up and they won’t be able to do it, so they told me to set up a fake meeting, gave me maybe 3 bullet points and said HR would join me.

I asked if they could just do it Monday since it was their decision, but they said it has to happen that day.

Now I know they decided to go with a different technology stack prior to this, they had roadmapped, knew what needed to be done and we had a team of very senior folks who could, with decent confidence, get the new stack understood.

Yikes…

But, nope that’ll take to long, gotta cut them. Keep in mind they had no performance deficiencies, they’re all just awesome people to hang/talk to about anything. All so they can turn a profit as soon as they can.

This company, like so many, like to say their culture and tight knit team make it a great place to work and they think everyone loves it.

I had to spend the whole day informing other teams what had happened and they were all really scared. I’ve been here maybe a handful of months and I’ve instantly soured. This had made me never want to lead ever again.

Maybe that would help me sleep at night again. Worst thing I’ve done in my career.”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person weighed in.

Another reader shared a story.

This individual didn’t hold back.

Another Reddit user had a lot to say.

And this person shared their thoughts.

It’s never an easy thing to have to fire people…

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.