There are pros and cons. The ability to lay someone off quickly means someone in the US can risk hiring a bunch of people on a risky bet - if/when they give up on the project they can let the people go and cut their losses. Some of those risky bets pay off though and the people are not laid off.
Note that I said lay off not fire above. There is an important legal difference.
There are both side of the coin when it comes to at-will employments with layoff. They can use it to get rid of high paying employees to hire lowest quality of employee for little pay that will affects the quality of their product. And they don't care because it looks good on their balance sheet. And there is no recourse for high paying employee against the company (unless they have a signed contracts that have a clause to prevent this).
My former job laidoff few people because of high paying salary. They got high salary because positions required a specialized and niche knowledge for their jobs. They are good at what they do which earned their justification for high paying. It took the company a year to hire a barely qualified person because they don't want to increase the pay after declined job offers from multiple potential candidates.
Fire is for cause and that means they will tell others when asked. This also means more paperwork to prove you are bad. That is they want someone doing the job you are supposed to do,but for whatever reason not you.
Laid off just means they don't need the job done anymore, and has nothing to do with how good or bad you are.
> Laid off just means they don't need the job done anymore, and has nothing to do with how good or bad you are.
Eh, in theory maybe. Not really in practice. When layoffs happen, companies often prioritize laying off lower performers. And they often still need the jobs done, just fewer people.
Of course none of these are legal differences. The legal difference I know of is that being fired for cause affects whether you are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
Especially notable in an easy to fire environment when health insurance is tied to employment. Everything feels higher stakes when there is minimal social safety net.
Ever since the ACA passed, you can jump right onto a marketplace plan with very little out of pocket (based on your income, which is $0 if you’re unemployed!). And they can’t exclude preexisting conditions anymore. Would be even better if employer-based health insurance went away completely, but at least it’s better than the old status quo.
To clarify my earlier comment I know "to fire" and "to let go" are quite different - the former implies you broke contract, be it illegal means or poor performance reasons.
"to let go" means redundancy.
It appears some countries see little difference between the two and others have a clear distinction and legal process.
In Germany, we have a 6 month "probationary period" during which either side can terminate the employment contract. That's more than enough time to check if you got a dud.
The whole problem is employers abusing employees by firing without any reason, and using the threat of firing employees if they complain. That is used to force employees to accept unsafe and illegal working conditions, because if you're an employee who's choice is "report workplace problems" or "pay rent" you're kind of forced into accepting unsafe or unreasonable work places.[1]
Because it turns out that is what employers do. That's why most countries have have laws preventing employers from arbitrarily dismissing employees unless you have an actual reason.
If you have a bad employee, you can fire them. You don't need at will employment for that. Unless you mean "I don't like this employee, who is doing their job properly" in which case you don't have a bad employee, you're an asshole.
[1] If you're ever fired and your employer claims they're allowed to do so because "at will" employer, note that "at will" only covers "legal" reasons. Retaliation, bias, anti-pregnancy, anti-child, anti-religion, etc are all illegal reasons. Always ensure that everything you communicate with your employer is in writing. As @nxm is demonstrating your only safe option is to assume that your employer is your enemy.
The US culture of "at will employment" (i.e fire you on the spot for little reason) gives me anxiety and I don't even live there!