Is this just a struggling company looking for a low-friction way to shed employees?
One company here had a bit of a panic as way too many employees accepted a buyout.
https://financialpost.com/telecom/shaw-to-take-450-million-h...
So I think senior management see these things differently...
For the average company a "good employee" doesn't have to be a skilled one, but just one that obeys the boss. This is also true for engineers unless you work for a totally meritocratic PhD led 4 people startup that builds quantum-enabled crypto-agnostic vacuum cleaners.
Point is that in general people that are upper in the chain are usually pretty self-important and see themselves as indispensable, while everyone below is seen as disposable, so as soon as you drift out of their simpaties and their plans they don't care about you anymore.
Obviously there are senior managers/bosses smart enough to know about those 2 or 3 people that they absolutely need to keep for reasons(they know secrets, they have some super rare skills, ...) otherwise the company will just disintegrate.
Humans are selfish, as simple as that, almost nobody goes up in the company ladder for virtue, more for greed and convenience usually, so it's not so strange that things are like this.
If people leave off their "free will" (haha), so be it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That's the line of thought.
At the size of these companies they couldn’t possibly hold that understanding in their head. So they’re thinking more about budgets and strategies, assured by their peers that we’re all replaceable in the end. They’re not entirely wrong.
Of course, later (once the economy recovers and hiring resumes) they’ll cry that new employees aren’t picking up context or contributing fast enough, things seem to be moving slower, coordination is lacking etc.