You also don't have to give back 6-12 weeks of pay when you give your 2 weeks notice.

A "performance improvement plan" is almost always a 6-month/1 year warning that you're going to get fired/laid off.

It's common in some companies.

Which is so common it's called "garden leave".

In one case it was "we may be considering layoffs" told to us in September, and right after thanksgiving was "we will be doing layoffs after Christmas" - but the list of those laid off wasn't available.

Maybe we need the corporate version of "Good night, Wesley, I'll no doubt fire you in the morning."

This is the real underlying story, and it may be unfair to expect people to "do this on their own" but in the USA, you really need to do this on your own.

I forgot how much I hated the mixture of top and bottom quoting

I've seen layoffs with severance so good that the remaining employees felt bad themselves.

The last time my company did layoffs they offered the same generous severance package afterwards to anyone else who wanted it. We had three people take the offer.

Ha! So true. Our last layoff had severance so generous that I told my manager next time pick me.

The sad thing is they probably did feel bad about it! But nobody cares and talking about it at that time is incredibly tone-deaf.

The best "layoff" support I've received has been early notice (e.g., you're laid off at the end of next month, but we give fuck-all cares if you even bother coming in anymore, feel free to) and personal support from managers/those remaining behind.

Anything an employer can do at scale can be reduced to cash, and cash is king.

What we have in the USA is not necessarily the final and best form of all interactions, as much as it pains me to say it.

Most people's reactions to large-scale movements like this seem to imply that we feel there should be something more than a simple "money duty" between employer and employee, and we seem to also have respect for companies that act that way (e.g, some Japanese companies perhaps, or baseball teams keeping a sick player on the payroll so they get healthcare even though they never play another game).

Attempting to realize that duty and at the same time abscond it to the state or the family may be an aspect of the failing.