It’s also odd as it screams a different problem too.

If the employees were advantageous, I agree laying them off should be a long term negative as you seem to suggest.

Kinda like cheering the warmth of a burning bed on a cold night.

If they were inefficient/ineffective then management is crappy for not dealing with the problem sooner.

Sure, companies are resilient. But the first year or two of lost competence from layoffs can be quite rough…