If the company is laying people off en masse, your "best people" are going to start looking for other jobs anyway unless they have faith in the company leadersh

If the company is laying people off en masse, your "best people" are going to start looking for other jobs anyway unless they have faith in the company leadership. Off the top of my head, a couple of ways offers help in that respect: Buyout offers soften the blow ahead of involuntary layoffs. They give people a sense of agency, which improves morale at a time when it's likely to be low. Offers give people time to plan. Even if they don't take the offer, they'll have an idea of the numbers the company is looking to lose. Offers help spread out the impact of layoffs. Laying off a large number of staff at once can cause organizational chaos; laying off a large number of staff over a span of weeks casts a pall over everything until the layoffs are over. Having people leave voluntarily gives time for an orderly transition without causing as much dread.