Up til about ten years ago, doing mass layoffs was seen as a sign of company in trouble; it scared shareholders and it made talent less likely to apply to your company.

Then enough of them did it often enough that the stigma fell away and it became a thing you did to get rid of underperformers, scare people into working harder, and separate the wheat from the chaff. Now it’s so commonplace that I’ve heard execs talk about it like it’s just what you’re supposed to do as part of good governance.