Reposted because it hits the mark.
"Rumor and gossip is what SAS runs on. These same sorts of discussions probably happened each day at the lunch tables in R."
Yah, that's a problem at SAS. We receive a company-wide notification when a parking lot is going to be closed for resurfacing, but nothing at all when 24 people get shown the door. That we hear first from WRAL Techwire, and only if someone who knows something leaked something, after the fact, or through the rumor mill.
Even before the layoffs began in earnest (before the first VRBP), and they were limited to a few people here and there, we only heard about them because news that security showed up to escort someone out of the building travels fast, or we heard the shouting in the parking lot from a distance ("Get your hands off of me!").
I find it incredulous that so many SAS apologists here don't realize that SAS created the problem they're complaining about, typified by comments like: "Unless you were in the meeting, you don't know what was discussed." This is true, but irrelevant. It's easier to blame the victim, and certainly because they can't place the blame where it really belongs. It's normal for an employee to want to know their job and ability to pay their mortgage is not in danger, and that when layoffs happen (because they are sometimes necessary) that they are impersonal, and for business reasons. But that's not the case at SAS.
Not only does senior management conceal the existence and occurrence of layoffs (it was a slow burn until 18 - 24 months ago), but they actively lie about the reason those people were laid off, then have cake at a party. Senior management selectively targets people to "settle scores", and punish people trying to outlast toxic managers by sending them down into the basement with a can of ro--h spray to make sure they g-e-t t-h-e p-o-i-n-t that they're not wanted.