laying off 1% of the workforce every 6 months for 2 years is crushing. The good people quit, morale is wretched. layoffs hurt. Usually coworkers are likeable if not friends, and they're suddenly screwed.

I don't know if it's good recession advice, but if a company has to make cuts, it's way way better do a little too much very quickly. It's weird for a month then things start getting back together.

I've never worked anywhere where upper management didn't take 50% pay cuts with layoffs. (i'm sure they were restored in 6 months or whenever the business restabilized). Actually that announcement probably kept a lot of people from just leaving after the layoff.