I work for a rather famous telco, whom I won't name. The business is run entirely by the Finance department, who continually want to see cuts in the number of contractors (all the permanent staff have refused to do the work we do, as it's very stressful and they - probably correctly - maintain that it's beyond their pay scale). Trouble is, we're overworked as it is - and Finance keep calling for 70% cuts (as if the company IT services just ran themselves).
Last year they managed to get rid of nearly everyone in the technical department for the service we're responsible for, and then there was this huge shock when SLAs weren't being met, and people were brandishing knives at each other. The most amusing thing? They went to all the job agencies they'd used and said "Oh, remember the people we hired three months ago and then fired all at once? Well, we want those same people back."
No, I'm not joking.
The agencies all turned around and said "Well, sorry, but the people you let go have all found other jobs now. You don't seriously expect people to just hang around for 2-3 months, waiting for you to change your mind, do you?" Funnily enough, they never got an answer to this question - but it still remains a perfectly valid one.
The bit about cherry-picking staff amused me, though. If anything, the tactics being used at this company continually ensure that they keep the worst staff while consistently evaporating the best talent (the best people get jobs elsewhere first - and don't put up with their contracts being extended just a mere 2-3 days before it's due to end - with no indication of whether the purchase order will be signed before then), and they also spend huge amounts of effort training new people every year when they realise they screwed up and fired everyone who makes the ship run.
A newcomer here needs about 6 months of experience before they become really useful, and the average time they spend here is about 9 months. So, around about the time they finally start making sense to keep, Finance forces management to dump them on the street. I've heard of bosses who really, desperately wanted to keep talent on - but were told they weren't allowed to by Finance. Of course, they changed their mind by the time the next quarter rolled by, but of course that was too late - and anyone still willing to work for them immediately doubled their rate as a precondition to coming back.
Keep your chin up. The more time I spend in IT, the more I'm convinced I need to get out and start my own business. I could hardly run it any worse than the muppets I see currently in charge.