I disagree that CEOs aren't thinking for themselves. In many cases, they are thinking perfectly rationally. Companies don't live in a vacuum. If everyone else is raising salaries, it's to attract and retail talent. If you don't do the same, you will lose current employees and not attract new ones. If everyone else is doing layoffs, then it's a good time to do layoffs that perhaps you were considering anyway.
Say you've been wanting to close down an unproductive division and let go of low-performing employees in other divisions for a few years now. You sure as hell weren't going to do that in early 2022, when you'd risk a lot of other employees jumping ship at the first signs of cracks in the house. But in 2023, you can do layoffs and get away with it.
Say you've been wanting to close down an unproductive division and let go of low-performing employees in other divisions for a few years now. You sure as hell weren't going to do that in early 2022, when you'd risk a lot of other employees jumping ship at the first signs of cracks in the house. But in 2023, you can do layoffs and get away with it.