You likely spent (pre-pandemic) more time with your coworkers than your spouse on an average day. Most everyone at your company has close bonds to a number of

You likely spent (pre-pandemic) more time with your coworkers than your spouse on an average day. Most everyone at your company has close bonds to a number of their coworkers and most people define the positive qualities of their workplace around their coworkers rather than the employer or the work. Losing a coworker is quite similar to a friend's parents moving them to a different school district - it's not uncommon to suffer a brief crisis as your brain copes with the change in expectations around what work will be like. It is an extremely bad idea to bring coworkers into the scene at the time of firing and it's an even worse idea[1] to bring unnecessary people into the decision about firing - especially if they effectively have no voice in the decision. You probably won't notice most of your coworkers leaving - but there are a few you'd likely feel deeply and people do occasionally need to move on. Go grab a coffee with them after the fact (or during their two weeks notice if that applies) and get your empathy in - but before someone is formally let go it will just hurt moral to spread that news too widely.