If staff reductions are necessary, there are ways to do them within a reasonable amount of time without seriously hurting people and traumatizing everyone who's left at the company. Layoffs are bad for morale, bad for business.
Or you could look at employees like sheep or cattle to be herded and culled when it suits and when asked for justification, make completely tone deaf answers that show no compassion for the human costs of your actions, the actual points of the questions. See if your best people are still loyal and decide to stick around.