My wife recently had a snap meeting communicated after hours, saying all staff have to be in the office and present at 8:30AM no exceptions. They didn't say why

My wife recently had a snap meeting communicated after hours, saying all staff have to be in the office and present at 8:30AM no exceptions. They didn't say why, and this was a small business (~15 people). To anyone who has been working a while, that absolutely stinks of redundancies or other tough measures that have to be discussed en masse without rumours getting ahead. Turns out they just hired someone new without telling anyone and wanted them to get up to speed so they don't look like a clueless bunch with bad communication. Meanwhile everyone in the office is worried they'll be the one fired.