Yes, but the best people typically know their worth and leave in 2-3 years anyways, downsize or not. What’s important during a layoff is keeping the company run

Yes, but the best people typically know their worth and leave in 2-3 years anyways, downsize or not. What’s important during a layoff is keeping the company running. How deep can you cut without affecting day-to-day operations? You don’t need 10x experts to keep legacy systems running for 6 months. Good people leaving is a calculate risk that managers probably considered.