It sucks to trick them into being out of office, but I can also see where it makes sense from a security and safety standpoint. When you fire that many people, odds are high that someone is going to have a mental health crisis, and workplace violence is always a possibility. The fact that you need to fire that many people at once shows you weren't doing a good job of managing your workforce in the first place.

I think the more important question is how were the terminations handled? Was the news delivered with compassion and an appreciation for their contributions? Were they provided with resources to help with job search, EAP counseling, and an extension of health insurance to give them time to transition their health care? A little of that can go a long way.

One of my kids was laid last year with none of these important considerations. They fired a whole team, including recent hires who had just relocated for the job. They did it at the end of the month, so health insurance was terminated immediately, requiring them to cancel a surgery and postpone medication refills until COBRA coverage could be arranged (2 months, and a claims nightmare). Termination was by zoom meeting (by a HR person they had never met) so no written record of reason for termination. They were told it is against policy to provide a letter of recommendation or even that they left in good standing. All their personal job records (awards, commendations, letters of appreciation, job description) were in their google drive and access was cut immediately. I've learned that is typical in the corporate world today, unfortunately.