I worked at the same company for a decade. There were three times the company did mass layoffs, and every time it trimmed a ton of long term employees.

Yes but you might be surprised how often "I think we need to do layoff" conversations happen and how often that a leadership team goes in to bat for keeping people for as long as financially possible.

I understand there are shitty companies. But if you're judging just by the "harshness of layoffs" you don't have the full picture.

Though to your point about laying off long term employees, depends on the country but it's often cheaper to cut shorter term ones (as they have less entitlements accrued, if that's a thing in your country). The other reason long term employees may be cut is they have accumulated too much in terms of small percentage pay bumps over the years and you end up with a team where 1 person is earning 50-100% more than the person next to them, and it's just an obvious cut.