[digitalchaos]

A big reason is that it's much easier to do from a legal perspective. Letting go of low performing people in a layoff is way easier than going through all the hoops of giving them warnings, putting them on probation, etc.

Also, a slow trickle of firings is just horrible for everyone. You have no idea if you are next, etc. A big layoff followed by a company meeting of "hey, we did a layoff because of X. There will be no additional layoffs as long as we hit our current goals."