Having survived through many layoffs, this is 100% not the case. The modern layoffs don't even seem to consider whether or not the person was a top contributor

Having survived through many layoffs, this is 100% not the case. The modern layoffs don't even seem to consider whether or not the person was a top contributor or sme. They are done to reduce cost and look good to the board/investors/whoever. I'm pretty sure I survive because my tco is probably more on the humble side but I'm far from cheap.