I see people trying to make sense of layoffs here, speculating it's always the first or last week of the month, or a certain group gets hit on this or that date, or major layoffs happen once each quarter...
I understand a need to try and predict something that can affect employees so profoundly but the simple fact is that there is no predicting it. There has been no common thread to layoffs. They happen all the time. Sometimes it's just a small group of people and just a few know it's happened, sometimes it's branches, sometimes it's a major round everybody hears about...basically, they lay off who they want when they want if it fits the numbers.
Sadly, we're at the point when every day might be a layoffs day and people really need to be prepared for that, rather than guessing and then potentially being caught unawares.