Layoffs have arrived--have we learned anything?

• Author: Griffin, Elle
• Position: EDITOR'S LETTER

WELL, IT HAPPENED. Peloton fired the warning shot in early February, laying off 2,800 employees (around 20 percent of their workforce). Then, Homie announced a round of layoffs on February 11th. Purple, too.

We've always known the adjustment was coming. When 2020 hit, we saw a surge in demand for things that would make our cloistered lives more bearable--including home exercise equipment, mattresses, and bigger homes--and companies added employees by the hundreds to keep up.

Now that life has achieved some level of normalcy, we're seeing the pendulum swing the other direction. There's less need for home renovations and sourdough starters and pent-up demand for Broadway theater and travel.

Well move the talent around again, lightening the load in industries that feasted during the pandemic while picking up the slack in industries that laid fallow. Only this time, I believe the transition will be much easier.

Employees no longer have to move from one house to another to...