[scotty79]

I have no experience in this, but I'd prefer to be laid of at Titanic style layoff party where it would be clearly presented how effed the company is financially and how quickly it is estimated to run into the ground then some people would be informed they got the privilege of option of riding death spiral a bit longer and other would learn that they can already start their two months of redundancy package whatever that is. Then everyone can eat, socialize, share personal plans and advices between themselves, eat nice food and get slightly drunk possibly.

That sounds to me like the most humane way to go. Kind of wake for the company as it existed so far. Let people mourn together.

[VoidWhisperer]

This does seem like a really nice way to do it, but the issue in practice may be that some of those companies are doing layoffs in an attempt to stablize or give them more time to find a way out of their death spiral. As a result, many companies probably wouldn't want to hold an employee event summarizing how f'ed the company is if there is any chance of it turning around

[scotty79]

I think brutal honesty is a good way to go and good start of a way to stay and try to salvage things.

At the point where you have to lay off 50% of your staff it's already apparent that you can't BS your way out of trouble.