[doktorhladnjak]

In big companies, the decision of who to lay off is often handled farther up the management chain. It’s very common for upper management to decide on criteria to use then have HR execute the layoff by identifying individuals using that criteria.

Criteria commonly is some combination of performance review history, cost, location, role, seniority, tenure.

The goal is to do it without managers interfering to save their favorites and to ensure it’s done in a non discriminatory way.