I hate to say this, but there is no parachute for the little guy.
The fact remains that payroll high overhead, but easily adjusted. The goal in either C11 or C7 is to pay back creditors. The fastest way to get cash is to fire people.
So what will continue to happen, across the board, is that folks will be slowly RIFFed, not replaced or over pithy maneuvers t reduce payroll without triggering WARN. Some people in some areas might be determined to be necessary for the hand-off for any piece of Sears or K-Mart that gets sold off, but those are most likely going to be transitory roles. The best those folks can hope for is that the terms are "you get severance, but only if you fully cooperate with the hand-off." Other folks will be let go. You might start getting written up for things that never mattered before but now are "deal breakers." It may be that one time you are late. Finance may have a longer life, but generally are redundant and should expect to get laid off about six months to a year after acquisition is complete.
If you are not a C-level or high up the pyramid, it's not "if" for you, it's "when" whether it's retail, Home Services, Auto, K-Mart, what-have-you. Because whether the plan is 11 or 7, the first act the big guys will do is reduce as much cost as they can quickly, and the BEST option to make that happen is in payroll. People are easy to fire and easy to replace, and the the lower the payroll at the time BK is filed, the more can be paid to creditors.