Correct, which is why it's not ideal to allow folks to volunteer for severance as the GP suggested. The company wants to choose who to let go to avoid putting themselves in a worse spot afterwards.

Wrong. People with the highest salary are usually the first to be let go, regardless of their status or contribution.

update: you think rationally, looking from the "greater good" perspective. Decisions are never made like that in reality. The way it happens is the board says "we need to cut expenses by X% or else", and that becomes your new "rational" -- or you lose your CEO job. Nobody cares about long term consequences in situations like that.

The point is they might be the first ones to voluntarily leave.