How layoffs became fodder for memes

Memes about layoffs are changing not only how we perceive job loss, but also how we process it, often desensitizing us to the real repercussions

- Shephali Bhatt

Hardik Shah is disoriented by the way layoffs unfold. Three years ago, he was laid off from a global social media company in its post-pandemic cull. “I had never even taken a break between jobs. Being laid off was brutal,” recalls Shah from Mumbai who works as a CTO at a hospitality company now. “I deliberated for days before posting about it on LinkedIn,” he says.

When Shah shared the news, the response surprised him. Referrals surfaced in the comments. Strangers reached out with empathy. “Before, referrals were sought only in private. After the purge, folks started talking openly and strangers helped.” The scale of the layoffs had created a collective permission to speak.

What unsettles him now is the speed at which this tone has shifted; how most layoffs are now followed by a meme-fest, as if the punchlines are queued up alongside the official statement. “If you are confident and have a support system, you will shrug off the setback. If you don't, it will be painful and make you wonder why are jokes at your expense,” says Shah, 43.

Last week captured this shift in a single frame. A meme began circulating on X: In one half of the frame was Jack Dorsey, former Twitter co-founder, now leading fintech company Block. On the other was Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage, dressed in identical black, beard trimmed in a similar style. Above Dorsey's head was the number 10,000, above Dinklage’s, 6,000, followed by the kicker: “4.0% smaller”.

‘The tweet, posted by @peer rich, has since crossed two million impressions. It surfaced after Dorsey announced that Block would cut nearly 4,000 jobs, shrinking its workforce of over 10,000 to 6,000 in a sweep. Among related tweets, user @jamiegenerated, wrote that this will lead to a wave of reductions in tech, adding “layoffs spread like memes.” The virality of the Dorsey-Dinklage post signals something equally concerning: layoffs are the memes now.