The higher up the food chain you go, the more arbitrary and random it becomes. The strategy around these layoffs are typically very poorly conceived and mostly

The higher up the food chain you go, the more arbitrary and random it becomes. The strategy around these layoffs are typically very poorly conceived and mostly involve cutting to a number across the board, which is random and pants on head stupid. There is typically little or no in depth analysis, which typically ends up cutting muscle or even bone in the company while many area of the company are left fat and bloated. Pretending that you will almost certainly be fine if you're in line with the rest of the herd is the myth that senior management wants you to believe. Certainly, if you make a ton of money and dont deliver value, you are at high risk, but if your department is seriously bloated, you probably stand a similar chance to getting the axe as the Average Joe down the hall who works in a tower that runs a tight ship. When senior leadership tells middle managers to cut a certain amount across the board, which is very common, there is vastly uneven damage across the organization.