I think it would be incredibly difficult not to feel slighted and go through a whole range of emotions when laid off.
Furthermore, most people will naturally compare themselves against others. It's how we navigate society.
It's one thing to live and let go, but it's another to understand why things are happening and why certain treatments or gradients exist. It's logical to recognize and perfectly natural to have feelings about.
Also their pay check before being laid off likely gave them many years of cushion to survive the layoff and get another job, maybe outside of tech, maybe found a company and hire their friends that were laid off with them
Humans fire other humans. Layoffs allow for severance and unemployment, which can make the pain of firing someone and all the externalities that come with it far easier for a boss to swallow.
I know a handful of people who have been laid off. Each one was very angry about being laid off - it was unfair, the boss always had it in for me, etc.
The ones I talked to a year later would ruefully admit it was a net positive for them. They were forced to reevaluate their careers and make corrections. One, for example, said it gave him the kick in the pants to start his own business, which he'd always wanted to do. Another told me it gave him the motivation for getting clean from drugs (the reason he was laid off was showing up for work high).
Being laid off is a lot less traumatic to people than getting fired, so layoffs are done to periodically let low performers go in a way that preserves their dignity, and makes it easier for them to get another job.
I've always found it striking to note how laid off has migrated over time. When my grandfather got laid off, there was an expectation that he would come back to the same job with the same company some time in the near future.
When I get laid off there is no expectation that my job will come back.
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