Figure out who's leaving the company: dump, diff, repeat
Engineers describe using LDAP, Active Directory, Slack, and other internal directories to periodically “dump and diff” employee lists, revealing who has been hired, promoted, or quietly let go. Many see this as a way to regain visibility and closure in large, remote-first organizations where departures are often opaque, while others raise ethical, legal, and privacy concerns—especially under regimes like GDPR. The thread also broadens into how layoffs are handled across countries, cultural expectations around transparency and goodbyes, and the growing sense that workers are treated more like replaceable infrastructure than people.
Using directories and scripts to track org changes
- Many describe dumping LDAP/AD or HR directories periodically and diffing to see new hires, departures, promotions, and org moves.
- Techniques include cron jobs,
ldapsearch, Slack/Teams/Outlook APIs, and “git-scraping” (curl → git add/commit to get a full history). - Some extend this to promotion velocity, department growth/shrinkage, and temporal network analysis of who works with whom.
- Internal tools exist that show “epitaphs” or departure notes; others built bots that announce deactivated Slack accounts or show “new-hires” / leavers.
Layoffs, remote work, and lack of closure
- Many say WFH makes layoffs feel colder: coworkers just stop replying, Slack goes gray, directories lag, and no one knows who’s gone.
- People miss in‑office rituals: seeing someone leave with their things, farewell lunches, informal goodbyes.
- Some compensate by pre‑sharing personal contact info, forming alumni Slack/Discord groups, or using LinkedIn to reconnect.
Privacy, legality, and ethics
- Strong debate over whether storing and diffing employee lists is acceptable.
- Several point out GDPR and similar rules: bulk dumps become “personal data,” may violate internal policies, and can trigger “right to be forgotten” issues.
- Others stress that work systems (email, Slack, devices) should never be considered private; employers can often access DMs, mailboxes, and logs.
- Some find these tools fun and insightful; others call them creepy, gossip‑driven, or abusive repurposing of infrastructure.
Management and offboarding practices
- Experiences range from humane departures with goodbye messages and extended access, to abrupt lockouts mid‑call and zero communication.
- Some orgs hide who was laid off, citing “privacy,” which often backfires: staff infer it via deactivated accounts or access removals anyway.
- There’s disagreement on immediate lockout vs. honoring notice periods: some argue trust and dignity; others cite real incidents of data exfiltration as justification.
- Technical mitigations mentioned: SCIM/directory sync for SSO lifecycle, DLP, forced logouts, revoking access while still paying notice/WARN periods.
Cultural and regional differences
- Several European/Nordic commenters note longer notice periods and more common paid “garden leave,” making sudden disappearances rarer.
- Others counter that even in Europe, access is often revoked immediately while pay continues, especially for sensitive roles.