>The only bit I'll buy is that some are doing it as a form of soft layoffs. But I find it hard to believe that every company doing this would act against its ow

>The only bit I'll buy is that some are doing it as a form of soft layoffs. But I find it hard to believe that every company doing this would act against its own interests in terms of productivity. WRT "in terms of productivity"? Companies do this all the time, and especially when they lay people off. (soft or otherwise) There's absolutely a loss of productivity as everyone has to sort out the logistical changes while doing the things they normally do.