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Unless a company is shutting down, the first to be laid off are (or are perceived to be by upper management) "poor performers".

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Would love to learn from data if you have any to back that up. From what we've seen, top reasons that determine who gets laid off include those who: 1) get paid well (the layoff is a desperate cost-cutting measure) 2) are randomly selected (the company is acknowledging that layoffs are not performance-related) 3) either got hired most recently or have most tenure (an attempt to reward longtime employees or respect those who just joined)

There's also the "entire department" (often post-acquisition) rationale. In any case, your perception is pretty common, and that creates a hiring opportunity for savvy recruiters who know better and don't pre-judge.

Here's today's example of an "entire department" layoff at SoundCloud: https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/06/soundcloud-the-youtube-for...

the first to be laid off usually are local maxima - senior engineers who pull way more than their own weight but appear "expensive" due to seniority.

the first round of layoffs so often cripples a company because they make cuts on the wrong end of the performance spectrum.

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