“Layoffs are a social contagion.” This quote is gold. From: https://news.stanford.edu/2022/12/05/explains-recent-tech-layoffs-worried/
What explains recent tech layoffs, and why should we be worried? | Stanford News

As layoffs in the tech sector mount, Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer is worried. Research – by him, and others – has shown that the stress layoffs create takes a devastating toll on behavioral and physical health and increases mortality and morbidity substantially. Layoffs literally kill people, he said.

Stanford News
@peterme I've seen this in various sectors, not just tech. It's one of the various ways in which labour productivity growth stalls because it ends up being self-defeating. Less employees work longer hours, which causes productivity losses as people are more tired and turnover increases. It's more virtue signalling than anything else.