[gorjusborg]

Could be a big brain move, or a micro brain one.

Big brain: I'm telegraphing that we'll be letting lots of people go so they will self-select and we won't have to fire as many. I imagine that someone could have this idea, but I doubt it benefits the company in practice.

Micro brain: 'If you have not received notice that are are affected, your are safe! Resume being 100% productive until you receive notice that you are fired at a later time. That is all.'

Having lived through 2001 dot-com bust, I can say that being the retained employee can be worse than being laid off.

[foobiekr]

It depends on your circumstances. I had months of sleepless nights when I survived the sequential layoffs at the company where I was working, trying to work out what I could do to secure my wife and I, but had I actually been laid off the theoretical would have been real. I knew good people who were out of work for a year. Not bad people, people generally considered very solid.

If I was laid off tomorrow, though, it would be a relief and I could call it a day.