Lincoln Layoffs

To add some context here, Lincoln has done performance cuts before, but not "layoffs" which can be slightly difficult to define exactly. The difference has been that in the past, all cuts have been performance based. In other words, you received poor reviews, were placed on a PIP, and continued to receive poor reviews, eventually leading to you being let go. This has been a pain point in the past, where many employees have felt that poor performers were given far too much leeway before finally being let go. Obviously you want to give people the benefit of the doubt and an opportunity to improve, but it felt like management was a little too lenient which ended up hurting the deal teams those individuals worked with.

Today, for the first time, cuts were not due to continued low performance. In other words, if the market was still as active as before, the individuals that were let go would not have been cut. When times are tough, there can be a blurry line between performance cuts vs. what is considered a layoff, given you are more likely to cut more lower performers than if times were better, but this is the first time a true "layoff" has occurred.

To clarify a minor point in the first sentence of the description of the post, the 37 were not all bankers. As mentioned in the second sentence, the 37 included bankers (A to MD), admin, support and other back-office staff. A little over ~5% of US employees overall