[squnch]

It affects the departing employees quite a bit. In an economic crisis, laid-off employees don't have a stigma associated with them. In good times, others think, "wow these guys must have been real stinkers." And layoffs don't always hit the low performers. If a company is shutting down entire businesses, like shutting down their operations in a certain country, top performers in an unneeded business unit can get laid off.