As much as I hate to say it–as I am I still happily employed with Halliburton–it doesn't take an engineer to recognize that things are getting extremely tough. The prices at the pump locally (E-10, anyway) today were $1.92. My department has been spared at this point–fortunately–but if I was running this business I believe I would have had to make very similar decisions as the management team at Halliburton.
I began my journey with Halliburton in 2007, therefore, I was a survivor of the "recession" time in which there was not much logic in the cuts made at that point in time. Rather than "trimming the fat", the company–at leat local leadership–just made quick decisions on sub-PSL departments rather than investing the time to seek out who were the keepers, and who were expendable at that point in time.
I say all of this because I do believe that Halliburton–at least in the PSL that I work within–has done an increasingly better job of handling this slowdown. Don't misinterpret this–many excellent, well qualified, undeserving folks I have had the opportunity to work with have lost their jobs, However, after taking a big step back and looking at the big picture, I am not certain my decisions would be any different given the situation, There is a business to run, and at the end of the day, if it were your business that was going to go under without some tough decisions, I would vouch that your decisions would inevitably be the same as well.
Focus on the job you've been assigned to do, not impending doom. I plan to check back on this site, as there are occasionally some good bits of information, however, worrying about the future you cannot control doesn't change anything, Have an exit strategy in the event something does happen, but until then, work as hard as you can. If you are the person who doesn't deserve to lose your position, then it is the company's loss for not recognizing that, and someone else somewhere will be able to capitalize on that fact.
Most of the cuts that were made after the last email communication did make sense. There was a commitment to flatten areas of management, and this was certainly followed through on. There were some field positions cut–I am not a field employee any longer, but I DO know field employees are the key to our success–but for the most part, they were in scenarios where given the same decision we would have all had to make the same tough decision,
Long story short-I will give the same advice I give myself every day. No good comes from focusing on what I cannot control. I will do the best I can, in fact., ensure I excel at a level above my peers. If the company decides my service are no longer required, then it is their loss, and not mine.