Usually when there are layoffs, the company has some sort of target for the reduction in force/budget they need to hit, or know that certain departments are no longer aligned with business needs and need cutting. The gist is that most jobs are continuing as they are, and only those those that are being laid off are affected. Those laid off generally don’t get an opportunity to plead their case to stay, they are laid off or apply for jobs elsewhere.
In this case, everyone is being told you need to reapply for your job in order to keep working here, high is VERY different.
Employees with good options (in-demand skills, track record of accomplishments etc) are naturally likely to not just re-apply for their current job but apply for other jobs to see if they can get something better. As ever with hiring, it’s a two-way street. HSBC may find this process provides big cost savings, they may also find that they lose a lot of good people and the ones left are very demoralized by the whole experience and likely to move on as soon as they can.
