The author complains that after all his leadership and hustle:
> to the company, I was just a row in an Excel sheet.
But then writes:
> [German] law enforces a social scoring system to determine who is affected, prioritizing the protection of the most vulnerable employees, such as those with children.
It sounds like under German law he had to be treated as a row in a spreadsheet. Cynically, it might have been wiser to spend time having a child rather than hustling for the company.