> Now that the hiring market has changed to give employers the upper hand, it's only natural for them to start wanting to cut underperforming employees and focus on the people doing most of the work.

That reeks of "I'm so sorry but with the tough financial times right now, we have to run a skeleton crew, so we won't be able to approve any of your PTO requests and we're expecting you to work long hours for the forseeable future"

Then later at the earnings meeting: "We made record profits this quarter! The CEO is getting a giant ass bonus!"