Here is how WFRs are really decided:
Executive Management determines that the financial numbers are not being met or going to be met. So basically revenue is down or below expectations but profitability has to be maintained if not increased; only thing to do is cut costs.
They determine how many head cuts need to happen and a total number is decided.
A mixture of global and regional management determine how the allocation will be made by function and organization. This of course means that some teams get two quotas: 1 for the region and another for global.
The Your managers manager decides how his/her total allocation of cuts will flow within their span of control.
Your manager gets a quota of heads to cut. Sometimes it is a % of the total team but most often it will be a hard number with a due dates of names to be WFRed back to the business office tracking your team within 2 - 5 business days.
Your manager then selects who goes. There is no negotiation or push back allowed. If your manager cannot give up the names, then their name goes on the list and the next manager picks the quota - 1.
Selection criteria back on 2006 when we started this was pretty easy. Low ranked people with performance issues topped all lists. After a while it become a game of mitigating short term risks. Loud, angry customers and account teams tended to not have their people WFRed. But after several years even that did not work as the pool was shrunk to bare bones. Then it became a game of who will cause the least damage when WFRed. No function or team was off limits after a while; even off shore places like Costa Rica and India.
7 a. One note here... the assumption that salary was a consideration was NEVER a direct factor. Where you lived (USA, Canada, Germany, Spain, etc.) and the legal protection afforded you as a local citizen was first and foremost. Now it is true those onshore countries are better paid... but picking one person in the USA over another because they made 25% more over the other was not considered.
7 b. When names where selected, they were "scored" based on skills like customer facing, project management, technical skills, etc. Lowest scores "justified" the choices and created a legal paper trail.
Once a name was submitted it was all but impossible to get them pulled off or swapped with another. It did happen but was very rare.
When names where submitted, the WFR machine started and was all but impossible to stop. Cut off for IT access for example was set in stone. I had someone that was on the WFR list that happened to find another job in HP well in advance of being notified. When the day came and went, the next day they lost all IT access regardless of remaining an HP employee. Needless to say they figured out that they were to be WFRed and was less than happy.
Another gotcha was that if your organization hit the overall quota assigned, chances were almost certain that if another organization in the missed their quota, your team would have to "make up the miss". "Take one for the team", we were told. This happened a lot.
One other complication is when HP files with the SEC an intention of paying $XXX millions in severance in the coming fiscal year (Google 10k filing). That causes some interesting quota behavior too. That is when the WFR quota is not heads reduced BUT heads reduced that were paid severance. So what happens then is your manager will not give you a nudge that you need find another job or at least polish your resume and have a plan B. If you are on the WFR list and you leave HP or simply take another job within HP, your manager has to find another person on your team to replace you. So it ends up a double whammy to the team.
Finally... (as if this is not enough) ... let's say or argument sake that at the first of the year, the Street is promised US$1 billion in cost reductions. That is 10,000 people at $100k per year salary if those 10,000 are laid off on day 1 of the fiscal year. That never happens. So let's say they lay off 5,000 by the end of Q2. That means that 5,000 have been paid $250 m and the company only get 6 months or $250 m in cost reduction benefit for the year. Oops. Another $750 m to go in 6 months. So now quotas have to go up and monthly cuts happen then it gets to weekly cuts. It is an ugly curve.
This was the far best answer I read on topic of how WFRs are decided, originally posted here: @LKIh7lG-2xej