I live in a never ending state of fear. I’m a long timer at tho company so I think it’s better tor me to hang around a few more years. The layoffs come and go but they never the true extent of the time in which they come are never revealed. If layoffs have to come, so be it, but why do they have to be dead by a thousand cuts? To be honest the uncertainty is worse to me that the layoffs themselves.
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Great insight to the last post. Picture it this way. Every 90 days the lawyers provide a demographic of who can be let go. Then, upper management matches the demographic to the employees. When your demographic fits their schedule the AIG grim reaper comes calling.
It's like playing Russian roulette. Eventually your number will be called. Maybe it is next round, maybe it's several years. If you stay here long enough your number will be called. The older you get and the more money you make increases your odds dramatically.
Optics. Companies do exactly what the law allows, in regards to how many people they can layoff, overall, without going beyond WARN act numbers and having to publicly announce the layoffs. So they roll in cycles, minimum 90 days between full cycles, so as to ride just below the numbers. They do the same with regard to how many people in each protected class get laid off in each wave, too... so as to not be accused of laying off too many middle-aged white males due to age discrimination, for example. (When that always appears to be the target group, mostly because that's what you get the most of when you target high salaries. Stable, hard-working folks who have been with the company the longest)
Anyhow, that's about the gist of it. The lawyers spend a great deal of time making sure they do exactly what the law will allow without having to publicly announce, and with as few potential lawsuits as possible. And now you know.