This is the new normal in 2024. Hearing about a layoff and reaching out to friends to check if they're safe from it. It's pretty messed up that world's richest companies are using layoffs as a mechanism to fix their balance sheet. My company never went for this lever. Also when you point out flaws in hiring processes at these large companies they swear up and down that it's absolutely necessary. So much waste, so many people chewed out in the process. Clearly there has to be a better way.