Nearly every large company has those merely competent people that they can't really justify getting rid of from a performance perspective, but these people are

Nearly every large company has those merely competent people that they can't really justify getting rid of from a performance perspective, but these people are a bit too comfortable and the company feels like a new hire is likely to be more productive. A downturn provides great cover for the company, since they can get ride of a bunch of these people en masse with minimal legal fuss. HR and Legal can be prepared and do it as efficiently as possible. Plus, it will look good on the balance sheet for the next quarter (if that's important to the company).