I see some restructuring on the horizon for my company and a colleague or two of mine sees it as well. We are trying to position ourselves to be in the best spot to take advantage of that type of restructure so that when it comes time for the hard stuff, we won't be caught off guard. I think I've had that idea in mind for a long time, it's best to have multiple skills that we can use and fall back on in a given situation than to have one single skill and drive that one into the ground like an oil well. Eventually it comes up dry then you don't need it any longer.
I actually had a colleague today that reached out to me for some help, he was being put on a performance improvement plan because he wasn't performing up to the standards they asked him to and he was pretty upset about it. I also see that he's taken numerous vacations, some of them week-long, in the past few months since he came over to my group. I don't know him from a fly on the wall before this but it seemed a little strange to take a bunch of vacations when you just came over to a new role. Maybe do that before the change? Lol just a thought..
These environments are certainly tricky because they are becoming increasingly complex! It's a good thing for learning and adapting but at the same time it's also tiring for sure.
If a role isn't needed, it changes - if a skillset isn't needed, there is not much you can do about it. However, that isn't generally the case. And generally, when they cut 20% of the staff, 60% of the group are quite safe - it is the bottom 40¤ that will have to worry.
And then things like "past performance" (or behavior) can have quite an impact. Vacations aren't generally the issue for those who are performing well.
And yeah for sure - far more complex to negotiate the environment now. I struggle daily!