New Delhi, March 9 -- Hardik Shah is disoriented by the way layoffs unfold. Three years ago, he was laid off from a global social media company in its post-pandemic cull. "I had never even taken a break between jobs. Being laid off was brutal," recalls Shah from Mumbai who works as a CTO at a hospitality company now. "I deliberated for days before posting about it on LinkedIn," he says.

When Shah shared the news, the response surprised him. Referrals surfaced in the comments. Strangers reached out with empathy. "Before, referrals were sought only in private. After the purge, folks started talking openly and strangers helped." The scale of the layoffs had created a collective permission to speak.

What unsettles him now is the speed at wh...