The email thing is company by company (Google seemed particular bad). Every company is doing it differently but from what I’ve seen/heard I’d say there are a few factors and the weight and use of these factors is based on company and even sometimes director/vp org. 1) performance, drop the low performers who were marked as such at some point recently, this won’t get you enough but it’s a start. 2) cut product lines/orgs that have no current impact and low future likelihood. 3) cut headcount to low profit/high burn product units. For 2 and 3 whole teams might be cut regardless of perf or directors are left to their approach for figuring out how to slim down by an amount. 4) cut specific roles that are not needed as much right now (ex: recruiting).