Watch Your Back: These 4 Types of Employees Will Be the First to Get Laid Off in the Event of Mass Dismissals

It started off very modestly. The global media reported little on it at the time, but we in the industry noticed it – first, managerial heads began to roll in corporations in the US and Western Europe. In 1998, at the beginning, nothing signaled that Croatia would also be hit by the global crisis or recession; hiring was ongoing, spending was rampant, overpriced apartments were being bought, loans with currency clauses in Swiss francs were being taken out…

No one even thought that something could go wrong. Ivo Sanader did not seem like a cheap criminal; on the contrary, he was just self-satisfied and conceited enough that we, riding the wave of economic growth (driven by external factors, but hey, who could complain), gave him just enough trust, even if we didn’t vote for him. Sounds familiar?

And then it began! Abruptly and violently. From Sanader’s statement "we are in a banana" to the first layoffs in families, among friends, acquaintances, and colleagues, several months passed. More precisely, the tourist season. In the fall, the impact of the crisis was bitter; oil, milk, bread, transportation, everything skyrocketed overnight, loans doubled, some even tripled, and the moratorium did not guarantee that you would come out unscathed.

And with all these challenges, layoff lists were rarely below double digits. Even among smaller employers. Layoffs began in numerous economic sectors; journalism was no exception, and during that crisis, even the author of these lines lost her job. Believe me, there are worse things than that.

And now, news of layoffs in the technology sector is slowly but consistently rolling over the pond. It started with them, but it hasn’t stopped. The workforce is being reduced in other industries as well, and experts have set themselves the task of assessing who is first on the layoff list (and our experiences show the same pattern), and here’s what they came up with:

1. Recently Hired Employees

Last in, first out is an unwritten rule that companies generally adhere to when deciding who to "thank" for their cooperation due to restructuring, austerity measures, and the like. Workplace veterans have greater job security in such situations. According to Revelio Labs, a company that analyzes labor market trends in the US, the average laid-off employee had worked for their employer for only 1.2 years.

2. Employees with Extremely High Salaries

It doesn’t take a genius to point out that high salaries represent a significant expense for employers, and by eliminating jobs for those who earn the most, employers save more. Whether in the US, where taxes are very flexible and benefit both employers and employees, or here, where taxes on high salaries are often an additional burden.

3. Millennials

They have spent years in the lowest-paying jobs, especially after the last crisis, unless they are IT professionals. Then everything changed; growth driven by cheap money printing and loans allowed them to navigate the job market more easily, they were begged to work, coddled, pampered, perks and various benefits were organized just to get them to show up at work, so it’s no surprise that employers are somewhat pleased to be rid of those slackers now.

4. HR and Other Similar Professionals

Few jobs in the impending crisis are as threatened as those of employees in human resources. It makes sense: the last thing a company needs in a time of hiring freezes and austerity is an army of people whose only job is to hire employees, maintain corporate culture, and manage employer branding.