[tbrownaw]

One-sided != antagonistic.

Also, the relationship has at leaast 3 parties: employer, employee, boss.

The employer doesn't know or care about individual employees, but may have a disposition towards or against bulk layoffs in various circumstances.

The boss does know the individual employee, and may personally like or dislike them (in addition to having some impression of their performance level).

The employee just needs to not piss off the boss, and not appear as deadweight (and optionally, impress the boss enough for protection from semi-discretionary layoffs).

Employers will not fuck over employees "just because". They're mostly rational enough to be predictable.