They won't know anything definite. If they've been at the company for a long time and have been through layoffs before ask them what their gut feeling is. Anoth

They won't know anything definite. If they've been at the company for a long time and have been through layoffs before ask them what their gut feeling is. Another thing to ask, which they may know, is how it will go down if layoffs happen. You could also reach out to HR and see if you get a "No, nothing like that is planned" vs a scripted response like "please refer to policy x,y,z that states HR will not discuss". edit: years ago, i was at a company that laid off a group of about 20 people very close to me. I remember my boss having a box of kleenex on his desk where there was never any before. Lots of people left his office crying. Things like that could be an indicator too.