[jmsduran]

Damn, I hate hearing about layoffs. I work in a close-knit team of developers and testers, where each of one us is an important contributor to our company's goal, and it impacts our productivity tremendously when someone leaves.

Maybe I'm naive, but I would happily give up any yearly bonuses and possibly even a slight pay deduction (as a single guy I don't have many expenses) in order to keep a fellow teammate from being laid off.

I'm sure not everyone agrees with this line of thinking, and there must be some legal mumbo jumbo out there that prevents this from happening... Anyways, I'm sure those laid off developers are talented, and hope they'll rebound quickly to a greater opportunity.

[marshray]

There was a time where a company I worked for was having to downsize for a second time. They were planning to keep me on, but cancel the software project I'd been leading.

I talked them into letting me the severance package and I went looking around elsewhere. I relocated for a better salary in a bigger city and the company I left was able to retain a couple of other staff (including a single mom!)

I don't want to make it sound like I was more noble than I really was -- it was the right move for me at the time.

[ido]

    I would happily give up any yearly bonuses and 
    possibly even a slight pay deduction (as a single 
    guy I don't have many expenses) in order to keep 
    a fellow teammate from being laid off.

Assuming the company isn't really hurting for cash you lay off people that don't contribute more than what they cost.

You can either let them go or I guess cut their salaries, but cutting someone else's salary doesn't really solve the problem that you're paying someone more than what you're getting from them.