BRIGHTSIZING

brightsizing: translation

n.

Corporate downsizing in which the brightest workers are let go. Also: bright-sizing.

What gives Adams grist for the "Dilbert" mill is the way managers mishandle downsizing, not only in the often cruel manner in which the news is broken, but in its sometimes counterproductive effects. Nynex, for instance, has shed thousands of employees since 1990. Union rules protect senior workers, "but our younger employees were the ones who had taken more time to educate themselves," says a remaining technician. "We have actually gotten rid of our best people." This practice — of getting rid of the brightest workers — happens so often that it has its own term: brightsizing.

—Steven Levy, "Working in Dilbert's World," Newsweek, August 12, 1996

In this era of downsizing, rightsizing and even brightsizing (maybe it is simply downright brightsizing), organizations are exploring alternatives to the traditional SNA method of accessing mainframe applications.

—Paul Morse, "TCP/IP access to mainframe applications," Enterprise Systems Journal, March 1, 1995

Instead of "right-sizing," our company is "bright-sizing." That's when all the bright people leave!

—Scott Adams, Dilbert: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1994-11-05/, November 5, 1994

Brightsizing happens when a company lays off those workers with the least seniority, but it's those young workers who are often the best trained and educated.

Many thanks to Paul Tomblin for providing the earliest citation.

boomerang

capsizing

cashier

downaging

dumbsizing

revector

RIF

rightsizing

smartsizing

torpedo

uninstalled

upstaff

worklessness

Layoffs and Firings

Earlier cite is from Dilbert:

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1994-11-05/my first time to hear this term, like it !

so realistic.