1. The minimium notice period for termination of employment is between 1 and 3 months.
2. The employer must select which employees to lay off depending on social factors(age, do they have young children or other dependents, are they disabled etc.) and not based on performance ratings.
3. If the company is laying off staff, but also at the same time hiring people with a similar skillset, they have to offer the existing staff the preferred chance to take the positions.
I think there is also a culutural difference to think long term even when enjoying short term success, but perhaps that is also present in the US when comparing tech and non-tech companies.
And it's possible to hire contractors too.
At-will is worse than contract work, because the contractor knows when he will be let go.
Uk (not EU but europe despite what it says) requires consultancy and a minimum compensation for being fired
france its a bit more complex, but it sometimes requires the consent of the person being fired, so it can be very expensive.
tl;dr: There is a special process called collective redundancy which requires a 30 day notice given to the workers.
There are also country-specific rules.
I know it's much more difficult to fire people in the EU, but is there an exception if it's done as part of a layoff?
The only real solution I can think of is regulatory in nature (e.g. requiring paying out 6 months pay during a layoff, which might make companies think twice before "hiring ahead of growth")
Because let's face it, "hiring ahead of growth" is the real problem. These companies aren't firing people because they are making less money. They're firing people because they hired people before they actually needed them, in anticipation of future growth that didn't materialize.