Here is what I have observed. The use of various procedures (like asking someone to immediately leave the office) is actually mainly driven by managers' and HRs

Here is what I have observed. The use of various procedures (like asking someone to immediately leave the office) is actually mainly driven by managers' and HRs' fear and/or inexperience with layoffs. Basically, these people get together, it's a tough situation for them and not one they have any personal experience handling, and they sort of convince themselves that it's safer to do things in a very cold and impersonal way. By the time the next recession hits, all of these people will have moved up to higher management rolls where they aren't doing the laying off themselves, so the next "generation" starts from scratch and again convinces itself that it's safer if we do everything in a cold and impersonal way. I think this is how you end up with all these silly procedures. I've seen people react unpredictably and emotionally in the workplace, but the layoffs I've seen have actually been entirely smooth. The typical laid off employee is either thinking about the vacation they're going to take (Silicon Valley good times thinking) or how they're going to find a new job (any other industry at any time). The last thing such a person wants to do is trash their own reputation by behaving unprofessionally, and they certainly aren't going to sabotage the employer. But since the managers doing the laying off typically have never done it before, you end up with the kind of weird outcomes described here.